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Briefly noted
U.S. plans pilot program to bar unsafe imports… Restrictions on liquids coming to an end
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New technique to detect individual molecules
Even very small numbers of deadly infectious agents or allergenic pollen molecules can cause major problems for humans — but detecting such trace amounts has been difficult to accomplish with enough speed to do any good; new detection technique solves the problem
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CBP adds food specialists to inspect imports
Worries about imported food, and about animal disease and the invasion of lakes and rivers by foreign species, increase; Border Protection adds food specialists for better point-of-entry inspection
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Briefly noted
Deadly plague found in Grand Canyon… IG: USDA monitoring system improves IT security… France’s DGA issues multinational contract for lightweight UAV radar tech… Thales completes acquisition of U.K. encryption specialist… N.J. safer, but not safe from terrorists
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HHS offers legal shield to anthrax manufacturers, distributors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers legal shield to manufacturers and distributors of anthrax vaccines and treatments under a “public health emergency” to be in effect until the end of 2015
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Briefly noted
Online “passports” to make Chinese foods safer… Top U.K. prosecutor warns against growing state power… France may buy Reaper UAVs
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Restaurants are a weak link in the food safety chain
The Congressional Research Service issues a major study of agroterrorism; one problem is that public eating places are exceedingly vulnerable to bioterror attack
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Unsettling lack of security at Level 4 Biosafety Labs
Biosafety labs (BSLs) handle the world’s most dangerous agents and diseases; only BSL-4 labs can work with agents for which no cure or treatment exists; there are five BSL-4 labs in the United States, and GAO conducted a study of these labs’ perimeter security; you are not going to like what the GAO found
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U Kentucky researchers demonstrate milk transportation safety system
Wildcats researchers develop a milk tracking system which will dramatically improve the safety of bulk milk transport
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Letter carriers may deliver antibiotics during bioterror attack
The task of delivering medications to citizens during a bioterror attack may fall to volunteer mailmen (and mailwomen); trial in St. Paul
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DARPA seeks ultrasonic tourniquets
New device, placed on the arm or a leg of an injured soldier or first responder will use ultrasound scanning to pinpoint internal bleeding, before focusing “high-power energy” on the bleed sites
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Detroit airport to offer germ-free security checkpoints
Worried about microbes, bacteria, and fungi released at airport security checkpoints as travelers take off their shoes and place their belongings in a tray? At Detroit Metro Airport’s new North Terminal you will not have to worry, with the application of new anti-microbial treatment
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EU bans baby food with Chinese milk
Twenty-two Chinese dairies used industrial additive melamine in their products; 54,000 Chinese babies were sickened, 4 died, and more than 10,000 are still hospitalized; 27-nation EU bans baby food with Chinese milk
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California tells residents not to flush pharmaceuticals
In an effort to limit the contamination of drinking water with pharmaceuticals, California launches “No Drugs Down the Drain Week”
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China milk poisoning cases rise
The number of Chinese children sickened by milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine reaches 53,000; 13,000 children remain hospitalized; 22 Chinese companies implicated
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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.