diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/SnpEff.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/SnpEff.java
index 1956dac6c..5d215603a 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/SnpEff.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/SnpEff.java
@@ -204,6 +204,11 @@ public class SnpEff extends InfoFieldAnnotation implements RodRequiringAnnotatio
     }
 
     public void initialize ( AnnotatorCompatibleWalker walker, GenomeAnalysisEngine toolkit, Set<VCFHeaderLine> headerLines ) {
+        throw new UserException("SnpEff support is currently disabled in the GATK until SnpEff 2.0.4 is officially released " +
+                                "due to a serious issue with SnpEff versions prior to 2.0.4. Please see this page for more details: " +
+                                "http://www.broadinstitute.org/gsa/wiki/index.php/Adding_Genomic_Annotations_Using_SnpEff_and_VariantAnnotator");
+
+        /*
         // Make sure that we actually have a valid SnpEff rod binding (just in case the user specified -A SnpEff
         // without providing a SnpEff rod via --snpEffFile):
         validateRodBinding(walker.getSnpEffRodBinding());
@@ -223,6 +228,7 @@ public class SnpEff extends InfoFieldAnnotation implements RodRequiringAnnotatio
         // mistaken in the future for a SnpEff output file:
         headerLines.add(new VCFHeaderLine(OUTPUT_VCF_HEADER_VERSION_LINE_KEY, snpEffVersionLine.getValue()));
         headerLines.add(new VCFHeaderLine(OUTPUT_VCF_HEADER_COMMAND_LINE_KEY, snpEffCommandLine.getValue()));
+        */
     }
 
     public Map<String, Object> annotate ( RefMetaDataTracker tracker, AnnotatorCompatibleWalker walker, ReferenceContext ref, Map<String, AlignmentContext> stratifiedContexts, VariantContext vc ) {
diff --git a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest.java b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest.java
index 83c3d3a1e..fa0b62cfd 100755
--- a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest.java
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ public class VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
         }
     }
 
-    @Test
+    @Test(enabled = false)
     public void testSnpEffAnnotations() {
         WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(
             "-T VariantAnnotator -R " + hg19Reference + " -NO_HEADER -o %s -A SnpEff --variant " +
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ public class VariantAnnotatorIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
         executeTest("Testing SnpEff annotations", spec);
     }
 
-    @Test
+    @Test(enabled = false)
     public void testSnpEffAnnotationsUnsupportedVersion() {
         WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(
             "-T VariantAnnotator -R " + hg19Reference + " -NO_HEADER -o %s -A SnpEff --variant " +
diff --git a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/UnifiedGenotyperIntegrationTest.java b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/UnifiedGenotyperIntegrationTest.java
index ba33108cf..3c6131d6c 100755
--- a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/UnifiedGenotyperIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/UnifiedGenotyperIntegrationTest.java
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ public class UnifiedGenotyperIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
         executeTest("test MultiSample Phase1 indels with complicated records", spec4);
     }
 
-    @Test
+    @Test(enabled = false)
     public void testSnpEffAnnotationRequestedWithoutRodBinding() {
         WalkerTest.WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTest.WalkerTestSpec(
                 baseCommand + " -I " + validationDataLocation + "low_coverage_CEU.chr1.10k-11k.bam -o %s -L 1:10,022,000-10,025,000 " +
diff --git a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalIntegrationTest.java b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalIntegrationTest.java
index 4e3d38c4f..3ef4e5e9f 100755
--- a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/varianteval/VariantEvalIntegrationTest.java
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ public class VariantEvalIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
     private static String cmdRoot = "-T VariantEval" +
             " -R " + b36KGReference;
 
-    @Test
+    @Test(enabled = false)
     public void testFunctionClassWithSnpeff() {
         WalkerTestSpec spec = new WalkerTestSpec(
                                 buildCommandLine(