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Worried about crop smuggling, USDA imposes new fees on Canadian fliers, transport
Rise of tropical fruit smuggling worries USDA; $5 fee to be imposed on airline travellers; $5.25 for trucks, $7.50 for every railway car, and $488 on each maritime vessel
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Sheetz food poisoning fiasco inspires software reponse
Alto-Shaam and E-Control Systems offer food preparation monitoring system; data from cookers and freezers useful for employee oversight, defending against lawsuits
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Japanese government survey finds health centers unprepared for bioterror
Many lack trained teams to respond to small pox and anthrax
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Safe America Foundation to test social distancing as flu response
Effort coordinated with French government, American health authorities; employees of Fortune 100 firms to avoid each other at work, will be monitored by hidden cameras
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Escape of genetically modified grass and rice upsets industry
Lax regulatory enforcement cited as major problem; USDA often unware of testing programs and location
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Georgia congressmen press House about agroterrorism
State a leader in biodefense; first state to create a “national curriculum” on agrosecurity
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Fisher Scientific, trying to merge with Thermo Electron, will sell off product line to satisfy anti-trust concerns
A request for information from the FTC prompts company to consider selling Genevac, a $17 million solvent evaporation and concentration equipment manufacturer
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New York and San Francisco use fish to monitor drinking water
In airports German Shepherds are used to protect civilians from contaminants, bomb making materials, narcotics, etc.; In two cities, however, fish are doing the detecting by monitoring drinking water
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Luminex applies medical know-how to war against bioterrorism
Texas company using technology it developed for drug companies and clinical research labs as a basis for developing a trigger sensor which would alert of a bioterror attack
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Viriginia wildelife organization to develop bioterror surveillance system
Animals in the wild are susceptible to some of the very pathogens which terrorists would use in a bioterror attack; one way, therefore, to detect the onset of such an attack would be to keep a close eye on wildlife for any suspicious occurances
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TVI announces selection as decontamination system provider for DoD
The contract under the Defense Guardian Installation Protection Program is worth $490,000; company will deploy proprietary fabric shelter structures
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Sceptor Industries reports excellent results from recent tests of its OMNI 3000 portable air sampler
The Kansas City, Missouri company reports that it achieved collection efficiences as high as 91.8% and managed to process 277 liters of air per minute
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United States is still vulnerable to bioterror, but is moving in the right direction
Experts agree technology has come a long way; some still, however, believe we are not safe from bioterrorism as new threats continue to arise – one being synthetic bioterror agents
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U.S. BioDefense gains total control of EDS
U.S. BioDefense expands its services by gaining 100 percent control of EDS; the acquisition works well for EDS as well as the emergency preparedness and disaster recovery industry is expected to spend billions in 2007
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Nanowire “barcode” system to facilitate detection of bioterrorism agents in the field
Nanotechnolgy has already made many contributions to homeland security, and here is an intriguing one: Researchers in several California research centers join to demonstrate how nanowire barcodes can help in detecting bioterror agents – and epidemic carriers
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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.”