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Global food trade a target for terrorists
Food technologists offer gloomy assessment of the vulnerability of the global food trade, and the ease with which terrorist can use it as a weapon
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Aggies vice president for research resigns after CDC investigation
Researchers at Texas A&M were infected with CDC-listed bioterrorism agents during research on bioterror defenses, but the university was slow to report mishaps; the cost is high: the university’s license to do research on select agents was pulled, and it was eliminated from list of potential hosts of national bio-defense facility
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FDA suspends plan to close, consolidate inspection laboratories
The FDA proposed to close 7 of its 13 labs around the country that test food and drugs for safety; daily revelations of unsafe and dangerous Chinese imports combined with public and congressional outcry lead agency to suspend proposal
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FDA faces structural, statutory limits in food inspection
The agency’s form, function, and authority make it inherently incapable of inspecting and guaranteeing safety of U.S. food supply; system in need of a sweeping, profound revamping
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Posion attack scare at Washington, D.C., Maryland Metrorail stations
“Pest abatement” contractor chooses to do his work Sunday afternoon rather than at midnight, leading to dozens of dead birds on Metro stations’ platforms; stations closed, FBI’s antiterror units dispatched
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DoD awards $2.2 million to CombiMatrix for bioterrorism solution
The miliitary wants better antiterrorism and infectious disease products, and CombiMatrix gets the call
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The true cost of food
The true cost of food must include the cost of protecting the food supply from further outbreaks of nastiness, and paying for the clean-up operations when they do occur
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Critics charge new trade deals neglect food safety
Globalization critics charge that the Bush administration may be jeopardizing consumers as it presses Congress to approve free-trade agreements with countries with dubious food-safety records
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Five states make the finalist list for national biolab
And the winner is: DHS is searching for a site for its $450 million national bio lab to replace the aging Plum Island, New York facility; five states make the finalist list
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Congress blocks FDA's plans to close field labs
As worries about food safety in the U.S. mount, Congress steps in to prevent FDA from closing field labs; agency says closing labs as part of a modernization plan
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U.S. to examine ways better to monitor imports from China
Stories about contaminated and defective imports from China abound, and the administration is studying ways to keep such imports safe
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USDA evaluates zNose for detecting contraband food products
The current inspection systems for contraband food products has come under criticism; USDA augments inspection by testing zNose
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Kansas State University wants to house high-level biolab
Thde city of Dunn, Wisconsin, is relieved to be taken off the list for future high-security biolabs; the debate in Manhattan Kansas, begins
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Biolab bid loser U Missouri supports Kansas State
University of Missouri-Columbia failed to make the finalists list for the national biolab; it joins a consortium of university and business interests pulling for the lab to be built at Kansas State University
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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.”