BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UPDATE
23 May 2006
In this issue:
Previous editions of Biological Weapons Update are available
at: http://www.basicint.org/update/bwu.htm.
Anthrax
According to
research from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute
of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) anthrax vaccine administered
in combination with a short course of antibiotics completely
protected nonhuman primates from inhalational anthrax.
The Associated Press reported
May 3 that officials found two missing vials of anthrax mislabeled
at a state lab among the samples taken from the postal facility
that processed tainted letters in 2001. The vials were among
thousands of negative samples. There was a transcription error
in the numbers when they were labeled. Officials disclosed
they had lost track of the vials nearly two weeks ago. Officials
said they thought it was a clerical error and that no anthrax
was actually lost.
The Washington Post
reported May 10 that the troubled government Project Bioshield
program's attempt to produce a new anthrax vaccine has fallen
at least another year behind schedule. Tensions between the
government and its main contractor have become so severe the
future of the program could be in doubt. The government has
approved contract changes under which the company will not
begin delivering anthrax vaccine until late 2008, with final
delivery in 2009. The company, VaxGen, said the
government is now demanding the company pay for additional
costly studies that could threaten VaxGen's financial health
and deter other biotech firms from participating in the Bioshield
effort. They said the contract changes are particularly troubling
because federal authorities have not cited any problems with
VaxGen or its vaccine.
See also:
Anthrax:
Federal Agencies Have Taken Some Steps to Validate Sampling
Methods and to Develop a Next-Generation Anthrax Vaccine,
U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-06-756T, May 9.
Sverdlovsk revisited: Modeling human inhalation anthrax,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006;
Vol. 103: pp. 7589-7594.
Jon-Erik C. Holty, Dena M. Bravata, Hau Liu, Richard A. Olshen,
Kathryn M. McDonald, and Douglas K. Owens, Systematic Review: A Century
of Inhalational Anthrax Cases from 1900 to 2005, Annals
of Internal Medicine, 21 February 2006, Vol. 144, Issue 4,
pp. 270-280.
Biological Weapons Convention
On April 26 to 28 the preparatory committee for the sixth
review conference of the States Parties to the Biological
Weapons Convention, met at the United Nations headquarters
in Geneva as requested by States Parties at its last review
in 2002. According to
Global Security Newswire the committee agreed that its
170 signatories should hold a three-week review to be held
from 20 November to 8 December 2006 at the United Nations
in Geneva. The review would allow for broad, unrestricted
discussions on potential measures to strengthen the treaty.
Click here for official
documents and press releases.
The UK's BWC CBM submission
for 2005 has been posted on the Foreign Office website. (13
April 2006).
Developments at U.S. Laboratories
Applicants continue to bid to be the site of the proposed
new U.S. National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. There are
now 29 bidders, one of the newest being a consortium led by
the University of Missouri-
Columbia. The Kansas City Star reported that
the proposed location is near an elementary school, a retirement
home, and residential areas.
Meanwhile, on April 30 the Star-Bulletin reported that a $37.5
million, state-of-the-art Biosafety Level 3 laboratory originally
slated for Pearl City would now be built in Kakaako as part
of the University of Hawaii School of Medicine. If approved
by the National Institutes of Health, the facility would be
a regional laboratory for research on emerging infectious
diseases, such as dengue fever or bioterrorism agents.
The
Conduct of Laboratory Research to Characterize Biological
Threat Agents, Summary of CBW Breakfast Seminar, May 4,
2006.
See also:
Jonathan B. Tucker and Raymond A. Zilinska, The Promise and
Perils of Synthetic Biology, The New Atlantis,
Spring 2006.
DoD Instruction on the Minimum Security Standards for
Safeguarding Biological Select Agents and Toxins, April
18, 2006.
Air
Force Policy Directive on Safeguarding Select Agents and Toxins,
April 26, 2006. This directive lays out the Air Force policy
on handling biological agents.
Peter Rabinowitz, Zimra Gordon, Daniel Chudnov, Matthew Wilcox,
Lynda Odofin, Ann Liu, and Joshua Dein, Animals as Sentinels of
Bioterrorism Agents, Emerging Infectious Diseases,
Vol. 12, No. 4, April 2006
Online Resources
Two online resources from the Center for Biosecurity, University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center: Clinicians Biosecurity Network and Biosecurity Briefing
Other Publications
Chemical and Biological Defense: DoD Needs Consistent Policies
and Clear
Processes
to Address the Survivability of Weapon Systems Against Chemical
and Biological Threats, U.S. Government Accountability
Office, April 28, GAO-06-592.
National
Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, White House, May 3, 2006.
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