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DHS is searching for buyers for Plum Island facility
The Plum Island Biosafety level 4 facility — the only type of research lab authorized to handle diseases that are communicable between humans and animals and for which there is no known cure — is aging; DHS has selected a Kansas site for a new, $500 million replacement; DHS is beginning to look for buyers for the Plum Island facility
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DARPA searches for instant repair of soldiers' injuries
DARPA is soliciting proposals for a device that can use adult stem cells for a regenerative free-for-all, producing whatever needed to repair injured body parts, including nerves, bone, and skin
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Chinese city sealed off after outbreak of bubonic plaque
Pneumonic plague, a virulent variant of the bubonic plaque, has killed two and infected 10 in a Chinese city; authorities have sealed off the city
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Anthrax attack on a U.S. metropolitan area could affect more than 1 million
No matter how well-organized and prolonged a treatment program is, it must be quickly implemented; a campaign of powerful antibiotics initiated two days after exposure would protect as many as 87 percent of exposed individuals from illness
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Sweeping food safety bill passes House
House passes new, sweeping food safety bill requiring more government inspections and imposing new penalties on those who violate the law
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Nasal vaccine developed for swine flu
Maryland-based Medimmune developed a nasal vaccine for the swine flu; so far, the U.S. government has ordered 12.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine from Medimmune for $151 million and could order millions more doses
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CDC to decide today on H1N1 vaccination priorities
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets today in an emergency session to discuss which groups should be targeted to receive the pandemic H1N1 vaccine and whether some should have priority
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Zimbabwe's crisis lower rate of HIV infection
Zimbabwe has been in an economic and social free fall for a while: a third of the population has fled the country; unemployment is at 80 percent; the inflation rate can no longer be calculated; social services have collapsed; the one positive aspect of this catastrophe: men are short of money to pay prostitutes or be sugar daddies and keep mistresses, leading to a decline in the rate of HIV infection
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Europe will fast-track swine flu vaccine
Worried about the eruption of swine flu infection during the coming winter, the European drug agency is accelerating the approval process for swine flu vaccine; critics, and even WHO, worry about the potential dangers of the accelerated approval process
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GAO slams choice of Kansas as location of new BioLab
In a critical report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that the process by which DHS selected Kansas as the site for the $450 million BioLab was not “scientifically defensible”; GAO said DHS greatly underestimated the chance of accidental release and major contamination from such research; Tornado Alley may not be safe
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When will swine flu vaccine be available?
Here are clarifications to some of the confusion surrounding swine flu: pregnant women appear more susceptible to infection; WHO estimates that by August, global production of the vaccine will reach 94.5 million doses per week; pregnant women and obese people will likely be first to be vaccinated
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Scientists unveil new weapon in swine flu fight
Taiwanese researchers say they have developed an organic compound which could help control the global swine flu epidemic; the compound can destroy viruses such as A(H1N1) swine flu and avian influenza
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Judge dismisses lawsuit objecting to Kansas location of biolab
Texas Bio- and Agro-Defense Consortium sued DHS over the department’s decision to build the new BioLab Level 4 in Kansas; judge dismisses case — but without prejudice, opening the way for the consortium to refile the lawsuit later
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WHO: Swine flu sweeping world at "unprecedented speed"
WHO said Friday that the speed at which the swine flu epidemic is spreading could tip the world into deflation and delay the economic recovery
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Breakthrough: Radiation protection drug developed
American and Israeli researchers developed a drug which offers protection from radioactive radiation; the drug uses proteins produced in bacteria found in the intestines to protect cells against radiation; the FDA is expected to approve the drug within a year or two
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The long view
What We’ve Learned from Survivors of the Atomic Bombs
Q&A with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman, New Vice Chair for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Combatting the Measles Threat Means Examining the Reasons for Declining Vaccination Rates
Measles was supposedly eradicated in Canada more than a quarter century ago. But today, measles is surging. The cause of this resurgence is declining vaccination rates.
Social Networks Are Not Effective at Mobilizing Vaccination Uptake
The persuasive power of social networks is immense, but not limitless. Vaccine preferences, based on the COVID experience in the United States, proved quite insensitive to persuasion, even through friendship networks.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert
The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”