Here's a little tidbit from the article concerning this Mars quarantine facility.
It comes from the following URL:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/05/29/mars.sample/index.html

>Not everyone is convinced such measures would ensure the safety of the terrestrial
>biosphere should the Mars samples possess life.
>
>A canister returning with the Mars sample is expected to crash land into Utah desert. And
>Mars researcher Barry E. DiGregorio warns that it could be contaminated on the outside.
>He cites the example of the Mars Pathfinder lander, which scientists estimate was
>covered with surviving terrestrial spores when it landed on the red planet.
>
>"We can't guarantee that a spacecraft going to Mars is sterile. How can we guarantee
>that anything returning is?" said DiGregorio, founder of the International Committee
>Against Mars Sample Return.
>
>The committee includes among its members Gilbert Levin, a scientist who designed and
>managed an experiment on a NASA lander that tested for life on Mars in the 1970s.
>
>While the space agency concluded otherwise, Levin and a colleague determined that his
>tests offered strong evidence of biological forces at work in the martian soil.
>
>Extensive testing should take place by robots on Mars or by scientists in Earth orbit
>before samples are brought down to our planet, DiGregorio recommended.

It fills me with confidence to know that journalism of the above quality is protecting
our democracy. I wonder if the person who wrote the above CNN article has any clue
that ICAMSR is nothing more than a single website, Barry D. a common Internet loon
and G. Levin a discredited scientist reviled by his colleagues?

Gary