A million thanks.

Dear friend,
"The prosecution of Thomas Butler could endanger biodefence research into countering the threat of bioterrorism. "

What does this sentence mean? I especially don't understand "bioterrorism" and "endanger biodefence research into countering the threat of bioterrorism".

A million thanks.

"The prosecution of Thomas Butler could endanger biodefence research into countering the threat of bioterrorism. "


I looked up "bioterrorism" on the internet and know that it refers to the terrorism caused by biological weapons. But why "endanger" is used here? "countering the threat of bioterrorism" should be advocated, in my opinion.

<<<The prosecution of Thomas Butler could endanger biodefence research>>>>

Because this Scientist has been prosecuted. Other scientists may be unwilling to carry out similar work. The work that he was doing was into: biodefence research. So, the prosecution of Thomas Butler could endanger (discourage) biodefence research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Butler

The prosecution of Dr. Butler was met with disapproval by many groups of scientists, including colleagues, the National Academy of Sciences, several Nobel Prize winners, and the Federation of American Scientists. Critics of the prosecution of Butler cited that while Butler was charged with violations of bioterrorism laws, he was an eminent scientist who was not credibly suspected of connections to bioterrorism. Critics of the prosecution also suggested that the aggressive prosecution of a prominent scientist would make other scientists reluctant to carry out research in dangerous diseases for fear of similar prosecutions.

Robin is correct. But just so you know, Sunshine, the sentence you quoted is not good English. It should be rephrased to look something like this:

Critcs say that Butler's prosecution could endanger biodefense research, reaserch that is intended to counter bioterrorism.

They way the original sentence was structured, you probably thought that people were worried that Butler's prosecution would hurt bioterrorism. In reality, they were worried that Butler's prosecution would hurt research that would hurt bioterrorism. It is not your fault if you understood it that way. That sentence is badly written.