The human rights committee of the National Academy of Sciences is protesting the government's treatment of a researcher who faces trial on charges of smuggling vials of live plague bacteria from Tanzania and lying to federal agents about them. The scientist, Dr. Thomas C. Butler, a leading plague researcher who is chief of the infectious diseases division at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, set off a scare in January, when he reported 30 vials of bacteria missing. Later, Dr, Butler told F.B.I. agents that the vials might have already been destroyed, according to the bureau's affidavit. He was arrested and...