• Bill seeks to bolster U.S. ability to fight bioterror

    Bill calls for bolstering U.S. defenses against future bioterror attacks requiring the director of national intelligence to produce and administer a National Intelligence Strategy for Countering the Threat from WMD, which would be created in consultation with the homeland security secretary as well as other relevant agencies

  • George Mason University opens $50 million biomedical lab to fight bioterrorism

    George Mason University has opened a $50 million biomedical research laboratory as part of the U.S. effort to fight bioterrorism; research will focus on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and on pathogens the government thinks could be used in a bioterrorism attack

  • The optimal balance of vaccine stockpiles

    Once a disease has been eradicated there is a danger it could reappear, either naturally or as a result of an intentional release by a terrorist group; how much vaccine should be produced and stored for a disease that may never appear again — or which may infect hundreds of thousands tomorrow? modelers target optimal vaccine storage for eradicated diseases

  • Botox as a bioterror threat

    Botox may be used to straighten wrinkles and lift sagging body parts, but the proliferation of counterfeit Botox worldwide — fueled by consumer demand — has made the toxin, which is deadly in sufficient quantities, far more easily available for would-be bioterrorists than it was in the past

  • Oil spill threatens a range of Gulf coast food stocks

    University of Arizona researchers said more than 240 kinds of “historically eaten, place-based foods” are at risk for being lost from what has been a cornucopia for generations of Gulf Coast residents. The majority of food items on that list are there because of the oil spill; oysters, crayfish, brown shrimp, redfish, grouper are at risk, as well as Tabasco sauce, okra, and gumbo file

  • A first: plastic antibodies pass initial test

    Plastic antibodies, which mimic the proteins produced by the body’s immune system, were found to work in the bloodstream of a living animal; the discovery is an advance toward medical use of plastic particles custom tailored to fight an array of antigens

  • Video study finds risky food-safety behavior more common than thought

    New study finds that that risky practices in restaurants, cafeterias, and other food-service places happen more often than previously thought; one expert says: “Meals prepared outside the home have been implicated in up to 70 percent of food poisoning outbreaks, making them a vital focus area for food safety professionals”

  • FDA should adopt risk-based approach to food safety: report

    Experts say that for food inspection in the United States to be more effective, FDA should implement a risk-based approach in which data and expertise are marshaled to pinpoint where along the production, distribution, and handling chains there is the greatest potential for contamination and other problems

  • New method manipulates particles for sensors, crime scene testing

    Researchers develop a new tool for medical diagnostics, testing food and water for contamination, and crime-scene forensics; the technique uses a combination of light and electric fields to position droplets and tiny particles, such as bacteria, viruses, and DNA, which are contained inside the drops

  • Michigan biter did not violate bioterrorism laws

    A judge dismissed bioterrorism charges against an HIV-positive Michigan man who bit his neighbor during a fight; the prosecution argued that the defendant intended to infect the neighbor with the virus, thus violating Michigan bioterrorism laws

  • Researchers develop an Ebola vaccine

    Researchers develop an experimental vaccine that cures the Ebola virus by targeting its genetic material; trouble is, the Ebola vaccine can only work if it is administered within thirty minutes, which is an impracticality among civilian populations; the vaccine is a viable possibility within a research facility, so it may be used to protect the researchers themselves

  • Dengue fever strikes United States after 65-year absence

    After an absence of sixty-five years, dengue fever has reentered the United States through the Florida Keys; the CDC reports that twenty-eight people in Key West came down with the dangerous fever; infected mosquitoes have been moving northward thanks to global warming, and there has been increased travel between the United States and South and Central America and the Caribbean — areas which have seen nearly five million cases of dengue fever from 2000 to 2007

  • Wooden or plastic pallets are a dangerous link in food chain

    Pallets are often stored in warehouses or outside behind grocery stores, where they are easily reached by debris from garbage or bacteria from animals; new sanitation tests found that about 33 percent of the wooden pallets it tested showed signs of unsanitary conditions, where bacteria could easily grow; 10 percent tested positive for e. coli, which can cause food poisoning, and 2.9 percent had an even nastier, and often deadly, bug called listeria

  • Coral snake antivenin to run out in October

    If you live in Florida, you should now be doubly careful not to be bitten by the poisonous coral snake; the only company making antivenin for coral snake bites is no longer producing the drug — and the last batch will hit its expiration date in October.

  • Safer food imports goal of public-private venture

    With imports accounting for 15 percent of the U.S. food supply, the United States needs a better way of ensuring food safety than border inspections; the University of Maryland teams up with a Massachusetts company to launch training center for foreign foodproducers