BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UPDATE
30 March 2006
In this issue:
Previous editions of Biological Weapons Update are available
at: http://www.basicint.org/update/bwu.htm.
International action
US strategy: On February 14 Carolyn M. Leddy, Senior Advisor
at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Security
and Nonproliferation, addressed a conference on "Future
Measures for Strengthening the BWC Regime" in Japan. She outlined
the Bush Administration's approach to controlling WMD proliferation,
particularly on bioweapons, claiming that the problem required
new approaches to the multilateral arms control treaties negotiated
in the Cold War.
Europe: On February 22 the Council of the European Union
released its Joint Action
in support of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention,
in the framework of the EU Strategy against the Proliferation
of Weapons of Mass Destruction. In London on March 13, Lord
Archer of Sandwell sparked a
discussion in the House of Lords on the 6th BTWC review
conference.
SE Asia: On March 6 Australia and Indonesia co-hosted the
second Regional Workshop on the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention in Bali. The forum follows the first in Melbourne
in February 2005, and is part of an ongoing process to develop
a regional approach to the threat of bio-terrorism.
Bioterror debate
The March/April issue Technology Review published
articles by Mark Williams on the possibilities of bioterrorism
based upon efforts by Soviet scientists to develop plague-like
bioweapons in the 1980s. Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.
William's work implies that the possibility of future terrorists
using bioweapons is a very real threat. Allison Macfarlane,
a research associate at MIT published a rebuttal cast
doubt on the efficacy of bioweapons, concluding that there
is more uncertainty than real threat. In Part 3 Williams
outlines why bioweapons are more likely to be used by national
military estalbsihments than by terrorists.
US preparedness
On March 6 the Los Angles Times
reported that an estimated $2 million of the federal grant
money granted to Los Angeles County for bioterrorism preparedness
had been used for public relations, responses to unrelated
health problems and the purchase of questionable services
and supplies.
Fox News reported March 14 that
Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health emergency
preparedness, and one of the Bush administration's principal
advisers on bioterrorism and other public health emergencies
has resigned.
It was reported March
18 that cabinet secretaries participated in a drill that simulated
a smallpox attack as the government tested plans to counter
the potential use of bioweapons by terrorists.
US Laboratory construction
The scrabble over federal funding for biocontainment research
laboratories continues unabated. The Gwinnett Daily Post in
Georgia
reported March 22 that state officials were in Washington
to meet with their political delegation to discuss the 500,000-square-foot
National Bio and Agro-defense Facility. Gov. Sonny Perdue
had announced the bid the previous week. Several other states,
including
Alabama, Mississippi,
Missouri, Texas and Maryland, are also lobbying to host
the facility.
CQ Weekly (published by the Canadian Embassy in Washington)
detailed
on January 23 the 14 biocontainment facilities the US federal
government is planning or already constructing across the
country.
Vaccines
The Washington Post
reported March 17 that the effort to develop a new anthrax
vaccine is mired in problems and will fail to achieve a November
deadline to stockpile 25 million doses of a new vaccine.
Publications
Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, Plagued
by Errors: New Approach Needed to Tackle Proliferation Threats
from Anti-Plague System, Arms Control Today March 2006.
Biological
Science and Biotechnology in Russia: Controlling Diseases
and Enhancing Security, National Research Council, 2005.
Enhancing Public
Health and Medical Preparedness: Reauthorization of Public
Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response
Act, Hearing, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions, March 16, 2006.
Checklist of Key Components
for Inclusion in 2006: Reauthorization of the Public Health
Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act,
Trust for America's Health, March 21, 2006.
|
