Prohibition on scientific
articles from Cuba, Iran, Libya or the Sudan
violates the
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
•
Declares Dr. Agustín Lage, director of Cuba’s
Molecular
Immunology
Center
BY RAISA
PAGES — Granma International staff writer —
THE U.S.
government publishing ban on scientific articles from Cuba, Iran,
Libya or the
Sudan is a violation of the principle of freedom of _expression_
contained in
the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, said Dr.
Agustín
Lage, director of Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology
(CIM).
The measure comes from a regulation issued last year by the U.S.
Secretary
of the
Treasury establishing that publishing articles from the
above-mentioned
countries is in violation of the embargoes imposed on them.
Those who do
not comply with the regulation can be fined up to $50,000 and
sentenced to
10 years in prison.
“This
absurd measure constitutes a risk for the very people of the United
States,” Dr. Lage said. “We know that the U.S.
scientific community will
not permit
its application and will deal with it through legal channels.”
The
anti-constitutional measure goes against world science and the policy
of free
exchange of scientific information for the good of humanity, he stated.
“We
thought that humanity had left behind eras like this, which recall the
times of
Hitler, when only Aryan science was recognized as valid and
anything
else was dismissed,” he said. “It is a
medieval and fascist measure.”
Every year,
the CIM publishes some 30 scientific articles in specialized
magazines
from a number of countries, including the United States.
“U.S.
scientists are very interested in the research into clinical oncology
going on in
the center,” Dr. Lage commented. “Every
two years we organize a
seminar on
cancer immunotherapy, and a group of U.S. researchers attend.”
In the
United States cancer is the second leading cause of death, with some
half a
million people dying every year from that disease.
“Articles
on monoclonal anti-bodies for brain and throat tumors and on a
vaccine for
lung cancer are soon to be published in U.S. magazines,”
Dr.
Lage reported.
The American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which edits
the
prestigious scientific journal Science, the American Physics
Society
(APS) and
the American Institute of Physics (AIP) are among the
organizations
that say they will not comply with the regulation, according
to an
article published by the British magazine Nature.
The director
of the AIP, Marc Brodsky, is totally against complying with
the
regulation. He said, “we believe we are protected by freedom of
speech,” Nature reported. Nature and other
publications by the Nature
Publishing Group have declared that they are accepting articles
from the
countries affected by the U.S. ban.
There is no
basis whatsoever to reject publications from those countries,
observed
Nature editor Philip Campbell, adding that they are taking legal
advice.
In the
United States, Alan Adler heads up legal and governmental issues for
the
Association of American Editors, which represents the majority of
non-profit
publications and editorial societies in the country. The
government should not dedicate itself to restricting activities
related to
the First Amendment, he stated.
Adler affirms that the law specifically exempts information and
informational material from economic embargoes, and noted that
his group is
looking into legal action aimed at the withdrawal of this
regulation.
“We believe it is wrong, both from a legal point of view
and as an issue of
principles, Adler said, according to an article published on the
Spanish-language web site, www.periodistadigital.com.
Fonte:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/marzo/mar23/13viola-i.html
