• Randall Larsen, executive director of the WMD Commission

    Critics point out that Project BioShield, created in 2003 to address the lack of medical countermeasures to deal with chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear terrorism agents, is yet to deliver a single vaccine to any of the known bioterror agent; they also point out to the cancellation of a $877.5 million contract with an inexperienced San Francisco company to develop an anthrax vaccine as emblematic of the program; Randall Larsen, executive director of the WMD Commission, argues that “There are always going to be problems when you’re making a new stealth bomber, nuclear powered submarine, or pharmaceutical for biodefense—- “; he also points out that the EPA R&D budget is about half the budget of the Marine Corp. marching band

  • K-State doctoral dissertation examines food bioterrorism

    Terrorist “chatter” and information gleaned from informants have led DHS to warn restaurants and hotels that terrorists are planning to use biological agents to contaminate food in readily accessible areas such as salad bars, cafeteria food displays, and more; a Kansas State graduate student writes a dissertation on how restaurants in country clubs protect themselves against this risk; he finds that they do not do much

  • U.S. not ready for bioterrorism

    New report finds that if a major disease incident or bioterrorism attack were to occur today, the United States would not be ready for it; significant local, state, and federal budget cuts have had a negative impact on public health departments’ ability to maintain staff capabilities, and their ability to respond to crises

  • Feds warn of food-borne, other poison-based threats

    U.S. federal authorities believe a food-borne attack on the U.S. homeland is unlikely, but they are still urging businesses and local law enforcement to keep watch for such an attack and a smorgasbord of other poison-based threats, including the possible contamination of skin products or even handrails at public places

  • Latest terror threat in U.S. aims to poison food

    CBS reports that DHS uncovered a plot to attack hotels and restaurants over a single weekend; the plot uncovered earlier this year is said to involve the use of two poisons — ricin and cyanide — slipped into salad bars and buffets

  • Hope for Plum Island in unease about Kansas biolab?

    Last month the National Research Council issued a safety report which concluded that there is a 70 percent chance of pathogen release from the proposed Manhattan, Kansas BioLab-4 over a 50-year period; The New York congressional delegation points out that upgrading safety at Plum island will cost far less than the $400 million price tag for the Kansas lab

  • Hutchinson: Canada's food system at risk from terrorism

    Fomer DHS undersecretary Asa Hutchinson says the Canadian food industry is not sufficiently protected from tampering and potential terrorism; the Canadian food industry points out that Canada’s food safety system is tied for fourth place with the United States, behind Denmark, Australia, and the United Kingdom

  • FBI submits new materials, delaying Academy report on 2001 anthrax attacks

    In September 2008, the FBI asked the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review the science behind the case against U.S. Army researcher Bruce Ivins; in the absence of a trial, the NAS review was seen as an important step toward understanding what the government had done — even though its focus was entirely on the science; on 3 December, FBI officials provided new material and asked for an opportunity to make a presentation before the committee — delaying the NSAeport until at least February 2011

  • New Jersey lab on the forefront of fighting bioterrorism

    A New Jersey company is working on defense against biological warfare; the 3-year $8.2 million contract with the Department of Defense calls for it to develop drug molecules used to combat biological warfare pathogens — centering its research around eight bacterial pathogens (although for security reasons, the list of pathogens has not been made public)

  • Capitalism to strengthen U.S. response capability to epidemics, bioterrorism

    The H1N1 flu pandemic highlighted critical gaps in the response capability of the United States, among them: the United States relies almost entirely on foreign suppliers for influenza vaccines and, perhaps as important, production of vaccines for a novel disease strain can take as long as six months; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wants to reinvent the U.S. medical countermeasures enterprise, from new doctrines for regulatory approvals to nimble, domestic manufacturing capability developed in partnership with the private sector

  • Increasing cooperation between security, health officials

    Those in charge of preventing and treating man-made diseases (bioterrorism) and those in charge of preventing and treating naturally occurring epidemics have increased cooperation because of a growing recognition by both sides that only way to monitor the rapidly increasing globalization of “dual-use” biological technology — which can be used in regular research efforts or clandestinely put toward a weapons program — is to pool their resources

  • MS drug to lead fight against bioterrorism

    A drug already approved for treating multiple sclerosis show promise as a long sought treatment for victims of bioterrorist attack with botulinum neurotoxin — which is 10,000 times deadlier than cyanide and the most poisonous substance known to man

  • Northrop Grumman testing autonomous biodetection instruments for BioWatch

    DHS has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to begin field testing a new generation of autonomous biodetection instruments as part of the BioWatch Gen-3 program.; the total potential value of the contract is $37 million over three years

  • U.S. sees East Africa as front line in bioterrorism war

    Africa emerges as the front line in the war against bioterrorism; anthrax killed hundreds of hippopotamuses in Uganda in recent years; in 2008 a Dutch tourist died from Marburg disease after visiting a cave in a national park; in 2007 an Ebola outbreak killed more than twenty people; American officials say that the underlying threat is that lax security at the poorly financed labs that collect and study these and other deadly diseases pose a bioterrorism risk; the rise of Islamist radicals in several countries in East Africa has refocused attention on this region as a frontier in American security interests

  • Detecting use of abnormal organisms as bioterror weapons

    Organisms have the potential to cause disease, but they can be altered to cause an unrecognized diseases or a process a process that doctors have not associated with that organism; this makes altered forms of bacteria like salmonella or E. coli the potential “bombs” in a bio-terrorist attack, but scientists at Purdue University developed a new way to look at those bacteria; now, West Virginia University is testing its potential