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U.S. drug makers buy ingredients from unregulated Chinese companies
Chinese drug companies are supervised — whatever that means in China — by China’s regulators; there are 80,000 chemical companies in China, but they do not come under the jurisdiction of China’s drug regulators; trouble is, these unregulated, uncertified companies sell ingredients of uncertain quality to U.S. drug makers
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U.S. faces water shortage crisis
Government projects at least 36 states will face shortages within five years; “The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency,” one experts says
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The public health lessons of 9/11, anthrax letters
A new book examines the responses by different government authorities to the public health aspects of 9/11 and anthrax letters; conclusion: In a crisis the available public health infrastructure makes all the difference in the quality of the local and federal response
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Troops, key health workers to be first to receive U.S. bird flu shots
Government unveils plan which creates four categories of people to be vaccinated in case of pandemic outbreak; the top tier of each category will be vaccinated first
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Palm Beach County prepares for bioterror attack
New foot soldiers in the war against bioterror attack in a Florida county: Country clubs and condo board presidents, who will help distribute antibiotics to the county’s 1.3 million people in 48 hours
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New alliance aims to offer pathogen-free food
VeriPrime alliance — it is an alliance of livestock and poultry producers, packing companies, and retail and food service vendors — says it can market meat that is 99.9999998% free of deadly pathogens
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$20 million contract to develop inhaled therapy for plague, tularemia
Florida-based Nanotherapeutics to develop gentamicin, an injectable broad-spectrum antibiotic used for pneumonic plague and tularemia; U.S. wants an inhaled version for easier application in the aftermath of bioterror attack
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Miniscule solar cells would enable ultramicroscopic technology
Harvard team develops solar cells 200 hundred times thinner than a human hair; source of power for ultramicroscopic technology now available; team leaders says one of the first application would be in monitoring bioterrorism
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Food importers to guarantee their imports meet safety, health standards
A proposal for screening imported foods would require American companies to certify that their foreign suppliers meet U.S. standards and would reward suppliers who undertake quality-monitoring programs
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U.S. government to intensify fight against industrial espionage
U.S. government launches a broad campaign to thwart foreign government and terrorist organizations from stealing sensitive U.S. technology; chief culprits: China, Iran
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Centralization of food production makes nation vulnerable
CDC says centralization of foor production and processing is the major cause of outbreaks of food-borne illness; centralization offers an inviting opportunity for terrorists to do harm
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More intensive, collaborative effort needed to prepare for bioterrorism
Medical countermeasures to combat biological weaponry will rely on the ability of scientists to develop potent vaccines and therapeutics that have broad activity and to do so rapidly
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Two major food safety laws are ineffective
Of the many food safety laws proposed, two were passed — Bioterrorism Act of 2002 and the facility registration database; trouble is, neither is very effective
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Morphotek in $2.7 million contract to develop monoclonal antibodies
Pennsylvania company to work with the Army’s research institute to develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against potential biological warfare threats
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Worries about safety of U.S. biodefense labs
Since 2003, U.S. labs handling the world’s deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents; as research into bioterrorism intesifies, number of accidents grows
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The long view
Critical Action Needed to Address Growing Biosecurity Risks
A new report warns that biosecurity risks are increasing. Emerging technologies and other trends are making biological threats more numerous, frequent, and consequential. The report outlines how emerging biotechnology must itself be used to secure biology, akin to how software is required to secure software.
Funding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity
The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.
How RFK Jr.’s Misguided Science on mRNA Vaccines Is Shaping Policy − a Vaccine Expert Examines the False Claims
On Kennedy’s instructions, NIH is funneling money away from new mRNA technologies toward a single project developing universal vaccines based on traditional whole-virus vaccine technology. Kennedy justified the decision with a series of false assertions about vaccines and their underlying technology. Abandoning mRNA vaccine research may lead to lives needlessly lost, whether due to potential medicines untapped or to pandemic unpreparedness.