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Emergent fights to fill VaxGen's BioShield contract
Company has the only anthrax vaccine around, but it does not meet the federal government’s requirements; on the verge of an IPO, Emergent licenses Coley Pharmaceutical’s adjuvant technology
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Congress considers reorganizing pest inspectors
Inspections are down after CBP absorbed the DOA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; legislation will reverse the arrangement; pests and disease cause $41 billion in damage each year
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Food producers begin to adopt product tracking systems
Dole and Western Growers install RFID and GPS systems; voluntary regulations take hold throughout California
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New fiber-optic light source for food inspection
Princeton Lightwave and OFS Labs team up to improve imaging capabilities of live-scan cameras; fiber grating creates a perfect rectangular beam of light
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Singapore launches nanotechnology educational kits
Aimed at high school students (and interested adults), Nano-Bio Kits feature hands-on experiments and instructional material for teachers
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Ohio scientists criticize traditional airborne pathogens detection systems
Simple membrane filter and the All-Glass Impinger-30 fail to make the grade when comapred to the BioSampler
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Acacia Research wins $689,000 Air Force contract
Specialized influenza sequencing a critical step towards fully-functioning field assays
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PhamAthene signs patent deal for nerve gas treatment
Maryland company firms up its relationship with GTC, a noted seller of goat-produced enzymes
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Advnt announces new biowarfare assay
After success with the BADD Box, company is the latest to jump on the all-in-one bandwagon; rapid assay can detect anthrax, ricin toxin, botulinum toxin, and others; say goodbye to cross-reactivity
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GlaxoSmithKline develops comprehensive avian flu vaccine
A vaccine that proved effective against a Vietnamese strain also works against a different Indonesian one; adjuvant system cited as the critical common factor; DHS expresses $40 million worth of interest
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Schwarzenegger to support voluntary E. coli regulations
Governor opposes a trio of popular bills to impose safety standards on leafy greens, instead supporting industry self-monitoring
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U.S. and Canada disagree on mandatory troop anthrax vaccinations
As American authorities continue to build the domestic stockpile, and as U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq will again be required to accept the vaccine, Canadian authorities demur
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Critics charge that FDA's food monitoring does not pass inspection
In 2006 the FDA conducted just half the inspections it conducted in 2003; the FDA safety tests on U.S.-produced food fell almost 75 percent during the same period; FDA inspection of imported food fell by 25 percent
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Indiana researchers develop real-life tricorder
Star Trek-inspired mass spectrometer weighs less than twenty pounds; analysis can be done on surfaces outside the vacuum chamber; system detects biomarkers and explosives with ease; two Indiana companies rush into the market
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Outside panel approves Sanofi Aventis's bird flu vaccine
FDA likely to accept recommendation despite disappointing trial results; 50 percent immune seen as better than none; stockpiling continues as GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis SA continue developing competing vaccines
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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.”