Biological Weapons
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Bioterrorists Could Employ Insects, Expert Warns
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009A Wyoming University entomologist has warned that terrorists could employ insects to help spread a lethal disease, RedOrbit.com reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 7, 2007). ...
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Debate Persists Over Suspected Anthrax Mailer
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009 The FBI is preparing to end its years-long investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings, but the bureau has yet to obtain conclusive evidence linking its sole suspect in the case to the chain of powder-tainted letters that killed five people and sowed fear of biological terrorism into the public consciousness, the New York Times reported Sunday (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2008). Federal investigators spent years focusing their suspicion on Stephen Hatfill, a former virologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., until agents finally ruled out his involvement (see GSN, Nov. 26, 2008). Investigators later reviewed evidence and honed in on Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist at the Fort Detrick laboratory who secretly suffered from alcohol abuse and psychological problems, the Times reported. Ivins committed suicide last July as federal prosecutors prepared charges against him. -
Expert Worried by U.S. Disease Research
Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008The head of the Australian National Center for Biosecurity has expressed concerns about the possible ramifications of U.S. research that produced a synthetic virus similar to SARS, the Canberra Times reported ...
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FDA Approves Changes to Anthrax Vaccine Administration
Monday, Dec. 22, 2008The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved changes to the application of the only government-approved anthrax vaccine, its maker announced Friday (see GSN, Oct. 1). ...
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Anthrax Attacks Less Likely Today, U.S. Army Officer Says
Friday, Dec. 19, 2008A senior U.S. Army officer yesterday said that security measures put in place since the 2001 anthrax mailings would make it difficult for someone to conduct a similar campaign today, the Associated Press ...
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U.S. Officials Worried by Release of Al-Qaeda Bioweapons Operative
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008U.S. counterterrorism officials have expressed worry about Malaysia's decision to free a man once believed to have served as the head of al-Qaeda's biological weapons efforts, Newsweek magazine reported ...
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Powder-Filled Envelopes Mailed to U.S. Embassies
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008Envelopes containing an apparently harmless white powder have arrived at eight U.S. embassies throughout Europe as well as additional governors' offices in the United States, the FBI said yesterday (see GSN, ...
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Powder Campaign Hits More Than 30 U.S. Governors
Monday, Dec. 15, 2008More than 30 U.S. governors by Friday had received letters containing an apparently harmless white powder, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 10). ...
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Zimbabwe Accuses U.K. of Attacking with Cholera, Anthrax
Monday, Dec. 15, 2008President Robert Mugabe's administration in Zimbabwe has accused the United Kingdom of causing the cholera that has caused roughly 800 deaths in the African nation, the London Telegraph reported (see ...
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Senators Hear Security Warnings About Labs, Bioweapons
Friday, Dec. 12, 2008 Congress might need to pass legislation to improve the safety and security of private and federal laboratories that work with deadly biological pathogens to help ensure they do not fall into the hands of terrorists, officials at a U.S. Senate hearing said on Thursday (see GSN, Dec. 4). Members of a congressionally chartered commission established to help prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction defended their assessment that a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons is likely to occur somewhere in the world by 2013. The commission, led by former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.), concluded that an attack using a biological pathogen is more likely than one using a nuclear weapon. -
Analysts Debate Bioterror Risks
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008Even as the United States spends billions of dollars on biological defense initiatives, experts continue to debate the likelihood that terrorists could pull off a major attack using smallpox or another ...
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U.S. Extends Anthrax Vaccine Funding for Alabama Firm
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008The U.S. National Institutes of Health has provided an Alabama biotechnology firm with $1.4 million in new funding to pursue a next-generation anthrax vaccine, the Birmingham Business Journal reported ...
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Smallpox Vaccination Could Remain Potent for Decades, Researchers Find
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Findings by U.S. scientists could help authorities here and abroad determine who should receive treatment first in the event of a smallpox outbreak in which the number of patients outstrips the available supply of vaccine (see GSN, April 24). Tests of blood serum from U.S. citizens vaccinated up to 88 years ago determined that nearly all maintained levels of protective antibodies that would appear sufficient to protect them from infection, National Institutes of Health researchers said in an article published this month in the American Journal of Medicine. “Our research should help public health officials in the U.S. and in other countries as they make decisions relating to vaccine supplies,” one of the authors, National Institute of Aging immunologist Dennis Taub, said in a prepared statement. “Our data imply that limited supplies of vaccine can be more usefully applied to people who have never been vaccinated, primarily those born after 1972.” -
White Powder Sent to Eight U.S. Governors
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008An apparently innocuous white powder has been sent to eight U.S. governors, including former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin of Alaska, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Oct. ...
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Financial Crisis Jeopardizing Bioterror Preparedness, Report Warns
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008A new report warns that U.S. economic instability is prompting leaders to pull funds from programs aimed at preparing communities for acts of bioterrorism or other major disasters, USA Today reported today ...