U.S. Company Settles Illegal Toxin Export Charges

The U.S. company Molecular Probes Inc. agreed to pay a $266,750 civil penalty to settle charges that it illegally exported toxins controlled for biological and chemical weapons reasons, the U.S. Commerce Department announced last week (see GSN, Feb. 25).

The Commerce Department charged that on 97 occasions between January 1998 and October 2002, the Eugene, Ore., company exported conotoxin and tetrodotoxin to a number of countries without receiving governmental approval. The company voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated with the investigation, the department said (U.S. Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security release, April 2).

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