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Hawaii H1N1 preparedness test disburses medicine
Hawaii tests emergency response to swine flu outbreak; supplies were distributed to more than 40 locations statewide in about seven hours; said incident commander for the exercise: “We consider that a great success”
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Ohio to train EMTs to give flu vaccine
Ohio has about 41,000 EMTs and paramedics; the state wants them trained in giving swine flu shots if needed
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Mandatory automated tracing of food stuffs nears
There indications the the FDA may soon require food companies to maintain lot and batch information records electronically better to facilitate forward and backward traceability
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H1N1 remains relatively mild as vaccine production advances
CDC says most U.S. children who died ad pre-existing conditions; WHO pressures companies to donate 10% of their swine flu vaccine production to the developing world
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NSF international marks Food Safety Education Month
NSF, founded in 1944, is a veteran in the food safety business; September is U.S. National Food Safety Education Month, and NSF highlights its different activities aiming to improve food safety
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Pennsylvania bio-terror laboratory fails inspection
Pennsylvania-based BSL-3 BioLab fails, yet again, a safety inspection; the facility was finished in 2007 but has been beset by an assortment of delays, poor construction, and breakdowns
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New business model for researching, producing vaccines
Relying on venture capital-funded biotech research is problematic when it comes to vaccines for pandemics and bioterrorism; an expert proposes a private-public partnership within the HHS Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority
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U.S. pays $31 million for development of smallpox treatment
Florida company awarded $31 million to to produce an inhaled version of an existing smallpox drug; Danish company in negotiations with the U.S. to develop a freeze-dried form of its smallpox vaccine
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Swine flu still poses a deadly threat
While H1N1 mostly causes mild disease, some people — estimates suggest fewer than 1 percent — become deathly ill, very fast; experts warned that these cases could overwhelm hospitals
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Better immune defense against anthrax
Scientists discover a gene in anthrax-causing bacteria may help defend against this form of bio-warfare
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FDA requires faster food safety reporting
FDA unveiled a new electronic database where manufacturers must notify the government, within 24 hours, if one of their products is likely to cause sickness or death in people or animals
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Scientists closer to a safer anthrax vaccine
The currently available, 40-year-old anthrax vaccine, can prevent disease, but it has significant drawbacks: Immunity is temporary, and five injections over the course of eighteen months are needed to sustain it; one in five vaccine recipients develop redness, swelling, or pain at the injection site, and a small number develop severe allergic reactions; researchers offer a better vaccine
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Obama administration emphasizes prevention in bioterrorism strategy
Experts say that the Obama administration’s approach to combating bioterrorism differs from that of the Bush administration; Bush emphasize crisis management — the ability to detect a biological event in process and to reduce its scope; prevention emphasizes actions that could be taken to stop an attack before it occurs
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Agro-terrorism threat is real
Tim Downs: “Experts have estimated that for a terrorist group to develop a nuclear weapon could cost them a billion dollars….But to develop a very good biological arsenal you would need about ten million dollars and a very small lab and a master’s degree in chemical engineering”
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The long view
We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who served as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations, serving under presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trrump, argue that HHS Secretary Roert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a clear and present danger to the health of Americans. He has placed anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists at top HHS positions, and he appears to be guided by a hostility to science and a belief in bizarre, unscientific approaches to public health.