Keyword: bioterrorism

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • North Korea can unleash 13 types of biological agent, South Korea says

    10/05/2009 11:41:00 PM PDT · by bruinbirdman · 15 replies · 779+ views
    The Times ^ | 10/6/2009 | Richard Lloyd Parry in Pyongyang
    North Korea’s armed forces are capable of carrying out 13 kinds of viral and bacterial attack, the South Korean Government said yesterday in one of the most detailed assessments of the dictatorship’s biological weapons arsenal. In a submission to the South Korean National Assembly, the Defence Minister also said that the North had 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, believed to include mustard gas, phosgene and sarin. Among its biological agents are cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, typhus, typhoid fever and dysentery. Despite the alarming assessment, Kim Tae Young also said that his country’s armed forces had the capacity pre-emptively to destroy...
  • Arizona House of Rep 2nd Session 2002: House Bill 2044 (AZ: Your Police State is Showing)

    09/23/2009 2:22:50 AM PDT · by TCH · 7 replies · 791+ views
    House Bill2044 Amendments to Public Health Laws, Revised Statutes ^ | 2002, Revised September 23, 2009 | State of Arizona Huse of Rep
    Ladies and Gentleman, I would not know where to begin... Please just open the link to the PDF file, and pay close attention to the yellow highlighted areas. These are revisions that were received September 21 from a trusted source. http://api.ning.com/files/V4nWg1HdyzZozKivbEc3XaeVd4wTVgVmY49csYADUAsDGRKJV8PvNEuAMOvSfj4XdmexeSvq-nrG1ML1tnDa5qPwIZwedS8v/AZHB2044cAuthorizesInternmentCamps091609.pdf
  • Summary of the Criminal Charges Against Baxter Pharmaceutical (Bioterrorism and Mass Murder )

    07/24/2009 1:17:54 PM PDT · by Larousse2 · 212 replies · 4,975+ views
    Natural News ^ | June 25, 2009 | Barbara Minton
    Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder As the anticipated July release date for Baxter's A/H1N1 flu pandemic vaccine approaches, an Austrian investigative journalist is warning the world that the greatest crime in the history of humanity is underway. Jane Burgermeister has recently filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), and several of the highest ranking government and corporate officials concerning bioterrorism and attempts to commit mass murder. She has also prepared an Injunction against forced vaccination which is being filed in America....
  • Protect San Diego from bioterrorist attack -- secure the border

    06/08/2009 10:45:05 PM PDT · by mgiorgino · 12 replies · 1,377+ views
    San Diego Daily Transcript ^ | June 8, 2009 | Michael Giorgino
    Rob Rossi loved baseball. Exiting the trolley near Petco Park, he admired all the new residential development around the stadium. Rob and his son Charlie took their seats and joined 42,000 happy San Diegans singing "Take me out to the ball game." Charlie cheered when the Padres scored their first run of the evening. Rob hardly noticed the small plane circling slowly overhead. On Saturday, Rob woke up with a splitting headache. His chest felt like it was on fire. Why is it so hard to breathe? And today is Charlie's Little League game! "Daddy," his son gasped from the...
  • Biodefense Labs Make Bad Neighbors, Residents Say

    05/18/2009 11:55:18 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 17 replies · 513+ views
    Los Angeles Times ^ | May 17, 2009 | Bob Drogin
    A series of state and federal lawsuits have blocked the opening of a lab complex in Boston. Neighbors are nervous that toxins could get out, and some scientists are likewise skeptical.Klare Allen, a once-homeless mother turned community activist, was stunned at a public meeting in 2002 when she and her friends learned that Boston University Medical Center officials planned to build a biological defense laboratory in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. "We heard anthrax and Roxbury-South End," she recalled. "Then we heard Ebola. The last thing we heard was bubonic plague. We looked at each other and said, 'No...
  • Nicotine May Prevent Bioterrorism Damage

    05/07/2009 9:41:46 AM PDT · by nickcarraway · 11 replies · 449+ views
    UPI ^ | May 6, 2009
    British scientists say they've determined nicotine can delay the effects of ricin used during a bioterrorism attack. Jon Mabley and his colleagues at the University of Brighton found nicotine works to block the tissue-destroying effects of ricin -- a highly toxic compound derived from castor beans. The study was conducted in laboratory models, but the scientists said nicotine agonists could potentially be used in patients exposed to ricin as a stopgap measure before other treatments take effect. The British investigators studied the effect of nicotine on animals exposed to ricin and found it reduced death and organ failure. "The protective...
  • Pandemic Influenza as a Bioweapon

    04/27/2009 9:55:37 PM PDT · by 2ndDivisionVet · 30 replies · 1,238+ views
    Recombinomics ^ | February 23, 2005
    "Anyone who is honest about this has to admit that if al Qaeda launches a spectacular biological attack which could cause contagious disease to be spread, no entity in the world is prepared for it," Noble said. "Not the U.S., not Europe, not Asia, not Africa." Since the WSN/33 situation in Korea provides some valuable insight into detection and reporting of bird or human flu, and wire services are carrying stories about biologic attacks by terrorists causing a contagious disease, it is worth reviewing some of the lessons learned from the swine WSN/33 infections. If pandemic flu is the contagious...
  • North Carolina Based Islamist: Swine Flu a "Curse From Allah Upon America".....

    04/27/2009 5:24:20 PM PDT · by Liam2007 · 57 replies · 1,745+ views
    Anyone with eyes can clearly see that this new disease is a curse from Allah upon America. The Mujahideen and those who support them continue to ask Allah to destroy America. Allah responded. Today, they are being destroyed military, economically, and now they are being destroyed with a new disease that is spreading fast. May Allah protect the Muslims in the West from this disease and may this disease reach all the enemies of Allah so that the American Government can no longer move a finger against the Ummah! The people of the world should start realizing that the prohibition...
  • THE SAVAGE NATION!!!!!! 4-27-09

    04/27/2009 2:56:37 PM PDT · by dynachrome · 60 replies · 1,517+ views
    michaelsavage.wnd.com ^ | 4-27-09 | Dr. Michael Savage
  • What Gives? Why Is Homeland Security's Napolitano Giving Swine Flu Briefing? (Video)

    04/27/2009 5:58:03 AM PDT · by DrGop0821 · 32 replies · 1,345+ views
    I understand that Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius is still awaiting confirmation, but why is DHS head Napolitano acting as the point man for the Obama Administration? She is having a hard enough time keeping up with her job as it is. It just seems a little odd that the woman tapped to protect homeland security is discussing a virus outbreak. Unless... Could it be that we are not being told the truth about swine flu? As the virus spreads, more and more people — and even a few virologists — believe H1N1 is a human-engineered pathogen. On...
  • Unique Strain:Is the Swine Flu Outbreak a Bio-Terror Attack?

    04/25/2009 2:39:39 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 46 replies · 3,957+ views
    RightSideNews ^ | April 25, 2009 | Gregs Blog
    In a discussion this morning with a cell biologist and medical doctor working at Johns Hopkins, my friend thought this 4-part flu combination is highly unusual and looks like it could be man-made. Especially because it has an avian strain. My doctor friend (he's Taiwanese) explained that in Asia, it's common for a avian-swine-human flu to happen naturally, but this virus first showed up in Mexico, where pigs and ducks are not usually raised together. Also, recombination of more than 2-different flu viruses is extremely rare. I'm just repeating what he said as an expert in the field. He says...
  • Possibility of Bio-Terrorism in Swine Flu Outbreak

    04/25/2009 5:51:39 AM PDT · by FreedomFighter1013 · 325 replies · 17,470+ views
    April 25, 2007 | freedomfighter1013
    In a discussion this morning with a cell biologist and medical doctor working at Johns Hopkins, my friend thought this 4-part flu combination is highly unusual and looks like it could be man-made. Especially because it has an avian strain. My doctor friend (he's Taiwanese) explained that in Asia, it's common for a avian-swine-human flu to happen naturally, but this virus first showed up in Mexico, where pigs and ducks are not usually raised together. Also, recombination of more than 2-different flu viruses is extremely rare. I'm just repeating what he said as an expert in the field. He says...
  • Bubonic MIce missing from Jersey Lab

    02/23/2009 3:51:20 PM PST · by Titus-Maximus · 22 replies · 568+ views
    Associated Press ^ | 2/7/09 | Staff
    TRENTON, N.J. — The frozen remains of two mice injected with the organism that causes plague have not been accounted for seven weeks after being discovered missing at a University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey facility in Newark, the university said Friday. The FBI investigated and determined there was no risk to public health or any indication of the terrorist link. It wasn't the first time plague-infected mice have disappeared from the New Jersey facility. Four years ago, in September 2005, three live mice infected with bubonic plague bacteria disappeared from various cages. Officials later said they believed...
  • Structure Of Enzyme Against Chemical Warfare Agents Determined

    01/29/2009 9:52:29 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 182+ views
    ScienceDaily ^ | Jan. 28, 2009
    The enzyme DFPase from the squid Loligo vulgaris, is able to rapidly and efficiently detoxify chemical warfare agents such as Sarin, which was used in the Tokyo subway attacks in 1995. A detailed understanding of the mechanism by which enzymes catalyze chemical reactions is necessary for efforts aiming to improve their properties. A group of researchers at the University of Frankfurt, the Bundeswehr Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology in Munich, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA, have successfully determined the structure of DFPase using neutron diffraction. The team used the neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory,...
  • Al Qaeda bungles arms experiment( 40 Tangos Die by Botched WMD)

    01/25/2009 7:04:01 PM PST · by Candor7 · 17 replies · 1,012+ views
    The Washington Times ^ | 20 Jan. 2009 | Eli Lake
    An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. (SNIP) AQIM, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, maintains about a dozen bases in Algeria, where the group has waged a terrorist campaign against government forces and civilians. In 2006, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on foreign contractors. In 2007, the group said it bombed U.N. headquarters in Algiers, an attack that killed 41 people. Al Qaeda is believed by U.S. and Western experts to have been pursuing biological weapons since at...
  • Report: Al Qaeda Group Bungled Test of Unconventional Weapon

    01/20/2009 4:44:31 PM PST · by tobyhill · 126 replies · 3,381+ views
    fox news ^ | 1/20/2009 | Eli Lake, Washington Times
    An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.
  • Al Qaeda bungles arms experiment - Biological or chemical weapons

    01/19/2009 9:34:25 PM PST · by Free ThinkerNY · 51 replies · 2,275+ views
    washingtontimes.com ^ | January 19, 2009 | Eli Lake
    An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria. He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication...
  • Deadliest weapon so far... the plague

    01/18/2009 7:29:17 PM PST · by null and void · 104 replies · 3,373+ views
    The Sun ^ | 1/19/09 | ALEX WEST
    ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH. At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside. The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East. It trains Muslim...
  • New bioterrorism lab to open next month in Lawrenceville

    01/12/2009 7:58:22 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 1 replies · 273+ views
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Friday, January 09, 2009
    New bioterrorism lab to open next month in Lawrenceville
  • Kansas chosen for bioterror lab

    12/05/2008 4:38:50 AM PST · by TornadoAlley3 · 11 replies · 501+ views
    journalgazette.net ^ | 12/04/08 | journalgazette.net
    WASHINGTON – The government has recommended a site in Kansas for a new $450 million laboratory to study biological threats such as anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease, officials said Wednesday.
  • Bioterrorism’s Deadly Math - Despite billions spent, we’re not yet ready for a big attack.

    11/16/2008 6:49:36 PM PST · by neverdem · 26 replies · 1,493+ views
    City Journal ^ | Autumn 2008 | Judith Miller
    The White House wanted to know: How much safer are Americans today than they were on October 4, 2001? That was the day when a photo editor in Florida became the first reported case of inhalation anthrax in America in decades. In what became biology’s 9/11, five letters containing less than a quarter-ounce of anthrax total—the equivalent of two pats of butter—killed five people, infected 17, put more than 20,000 on antibiotics, and traumatized thousands more. Decontamination alone, including at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, took over three years and cost some $200 million. With these disturbing facts...
  • Bio Terror 'Next Threat' For US

    10/31/2008 8:24:36 PM PDT · by FocusNexus · 18 replies · 951+ views
    Sky News ^ | Oct. 31, 2008 | Mark White
    Nuclear and biological terrorism is the emerging threat the next US President should focus on, the US security chief has told Sky News. In an exclusive interview, homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said sources of radioactive and biological materials must be properly secured "at all costs". He warned terrorists are actively seeking to acquire such materials. Mr Chertoff said he did not think a weapon of mass destruction, like a biological or nuclear bomb, was a danger that could be just months away. But he warned: "It may be years away and we can't afford to waste this time waiting...
  • 16 pirates died after handling substance on captured Iranian ship

    10/23/2008 3:47:03 PM PDT · by LSUfan · 102 replies · 3,498+ views
    World Tribune ^ | 22 Oct 08 | Unknown
    LONDON — An Iranian ship captured by Somali pirates carried sealed containers of a powdery substance believed to be nuclear or chemical weapons agents. Western intelligence agencies have been monitoring the capture of the Iran Deyanat, seized by Somali pirates on Aug. 21. The cargo ship, owned and operated by the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, contains sealed cargo thought to be linked to the death of 16 pirates.
  • Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Anthrax ...

    10/17/2008 1:05:48 AM PDT · by neverdem · 9 replies · 834+ views
    NY Times ^ | October 13, 2008 | LAWRENCE M. WEIN
    IMPORTANT planning for responding to a future anthrax attack has quietly been under way since the last attacks seven years ago. A key part of this effort has been figuring out how best to deliver prophylactic antibiotics quickly to the people living in the city that is attacked. This is at least as difficult and complicated as it might seem. First, an attack must be detected, either by one of the BioWatch air monitors that have been placed in many cities or by finding symptoms of anthrax poisoning in a victim. Either way, this can take at least 12 to...
  • F.B.I. Presents Anthrax Case, Saying Scientist Acted Alone

    08/07/2008 11:49:06 AM PDT · by Shermy · 274 replies · 945+ views
    New York Times ^ | August 6, 2008 | Scott Shane
    WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday outlined a pattern of bizarre and deceptive conduct by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist who killed himself last week, presenting a sweeping but circumstantial case that he was solely responsible for mailing the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people in 2001. After nearly seven years of a troubled investigation, officials of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department declared that the case had been solved. Jeffrey A. Taylor, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, said the authorities believed “that based on the evidence we had collected, we...
  • Documents: Ivins had custody of purified anthrax

    08/06/2008 12:22:29 PM PDT · by PurpleMan · 6 replies · 158+ views
    Washington Examinier ^ | Aug 6, 2008 | LARA JAKES JORDAN and MATT APUZZO,
    Army scientist Bruce Ivins had custody of highly purified anthrax spores with "certain genetic mutations identical" to the poison that killed five and rattled the nation in 2001, according to documents unsealed Wednesday in the government's investigation. Also, Ivins was unable to give investigators "an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of" the attacks, and he apparently sought to mislead investigators on the case, according to an affidavit filed by one government investigator.
  • Documents: Ivins had custody of purified anthrax

    08/06/2008 11:48:15 AM PDT · by Shermy · 69 replies · 340+ views
    AP ^ | August 6, 2008
    <p>WASHINGTON - Army scientist Bruce Ivins had custody of highly purified anthrax spores with "certain genetic mutations identical" to the poison that killed five and rattled the nation in 2001, according to documents unsealed Wednesday in the government's investigation.</p> <p>Also, Ivins was unable to give investigators "an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of" the attacks, and he apparently sought to mislead investigators on the case, according to an affidavit filed by one government investigator.</p>
  • Man pleads guilty in Las Vegas ricin case

    08/05/2008 5:03:19 PM PDT · by RDTF · 5 replies · 134+ views
    LA Times ^ | Aug 5, 2008 | Ashley Powers
    LAS VEGAS -- An unemployed graphic designer who told investigators that he found making ricin an "exotic idea" pleaded guilty Monday to possessing the deadly toxin in a hotel room here. Roger Bergendorff, 57, also pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge. (A second weapons charge was dropped.) He could face up to 20 years in prison at his Nov. 3 sentencing, though prosecutors are recommending that he serve a little more than three years. Bergendorff reportedly fantasized about harming people with the poison -- he had sketched an "injection delivery device" disguised as a pen -- but never carried...
  • Anthrax blend led FBI to Ivins

    08/04/2008 8:41:08 PM PDT · by Free ThinkerNY · 7 replies · 170+ views
    latimes.com ^ | August 4, 2008 | David Willman
    Its origins pointed to one conclusion: that only the government scientist could be behind the 2001 attacks. Federal investigators cinched their case against alleged anthrax mailer Bruce E. Ivins after sophisticated genetic tests by a California firm helped them trace a signature mixture of anthrax spores, the Los Angeles Times has learned. Well before the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings, Ivins, through his work as a government scientist, had combined anthrax spores obtained from at least one outside laboratory, people familiar with the evidence said. With the help of leading outside geneticists and a fresh look at the evidence by a...
  • Anthrax and the FBI

    08/04/2008 5:12:39 AM PDT · by libstripper · 10 replies · 80+ views
    Wall Street Journal ^ | August 4, 2008 | Wall Street Journal
    We often disagree with Tom Daschle, but the former Senate Majority Leader had it right yesterday when he said that last week's suicide of a U.S. microbiologist shouldn't end the probe into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Given how the FBI has mishandled this case, the Bush Administration has an obligation to make its evidence and the history of its investigation public. Americans will be relieved if the attacker was Bruce Ivins, who killed himself with an overdose of pills as prosecutors reportedly planned to charge him with killing five people by sending finely milled anthrax spores through the mail. The...
  • Scientists Question FBI Probe On Anthrax

    08/03/2008 1:31:44 PM PDT · by Perdogg · 84 replies · 256+ views
    Washington Post ^ | Sunday, August 3, 2008; A01 | By Joby Warrick, Marilyn W. Thompson and Aaron C. Davis
    For nearly seven years, scientist Bruce E. Ivins and a small circle of fellow anthrax specialists at Fort Detrick's Army medical lab lived in a curious limbo: They served as occasional consultants for the FBI in the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, yet they were all potential suspects. Over lunch in the bacteriology division, nervous scientists would share stories about their latest unpleasant encounters with the FBI and ponder whether they should hire criminal defense lawyers, according to one of Ivins's former supervisors. In tactics that the researchers considered heavy-handed and often threatening, they were interviewed and polygraphed...
  • Busting the Anthrax Myth

    08/03/2008 6:56:34 AM PDT · by sig226 · 4 replies · 89+ views
    Stratfor ^ | 7/30/08 | Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
    Dr. Jeffrey W. Runge, chief medical officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told a congressional subcommittee on July 22 that the risk of a large-scale biological attack on the nation is significant and that the U.S. government knows its terrorist enemies have sought to use biological agents as instruments of warfare. Runge also said that the United States believes that capability is within the terrorists’ reach. Runge gave his testimony before a subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology that was holding a field hearing in Providence, R.I., to discuss the topic of “Emerging Biological Threats...
  • Scientist’s Suicide Linked to Anthrax Inquiry

    08/02/2008 3:43:47 PM PDT · by Shermy · 10 replies · 154+ views
    New York Times ^ | August 2, 2008 | Scott Shane
    WASHINGTON — After four years pursuing one former Army scientist on a costly false trail, F.B.I. agents investigating the deadly anthrax letters of 2001 finally zeroed in last year on a different suspect: another Army scientist from the same biodefense research center at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. /snip The other puzzle involved the skills necessary to produce the high-quality aerosol powder contained in the letters addressed to the senators, Tom Daschle .. and .. Patrick J. Leahy. Scientists familiar with germ warfare said there was no evidence that Dr. Ivins, though a vaccine expert with easy access to the...
  • After Suicide, Feds Consider Closing Anthrax Case

    08/02/2008 2:47:43 PM PDT · by SatinDoll · 28 replies · 97+ views
    Yahoo! News ^ | August 2, 2008 | AP Writers
    This is not an excerpt but a synopsis. The Feds are considering closing down the investigation of the Oct. 2001 Anthrax attacks due to Dr.Ivins suicide.
  • Anthrax case turns - Scientist commits suicide as FBI probe tightens

    08/02/2008 2:07:52 PM PDT · by Shermy · 36 replies · 146+ views
    Frederick News-Post ^ | August 2, 2008 | Gina Gallucci-White and Justin M. Palk
    (From newspaper local to Fort Detrick) In 2003, the Defense Department gave Bruce Ivins its highest civilian honor for his work on an anthrax vaccine. Friday, the government had little to say about him, following his apparent suicide and media reports that the FBI was preparing to charge him with the 2001 anthrax mailings. Ivins was a Frederick resident who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, was a member of St. John Evangelical Catholic Church and a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He once said he taught himself to juggle to correct his nature...
  • Hatfill v. US - DOJ and FBI Statement of Facts (filed Friday)

    04/13/2008 8:20:52 AM PDT · by ZacandPook · 986 replies · 4,999+ views
    US DOJ and FBI Memorandum In Support of Motion For Summary Judgment (Statement of Facts) | April 11, 2008 | Department of Justice
    On Friday, the government filed this statement of the facts in its memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment in a civil rights and Privacy Act lawsuit brought by Dr. Steve Hatfill. “The anthrax attacks occurred in October 2001. Public officials, prominent members of the media, and ordinary citizens were targeted by this first bio-terrorist attack on American soil. Twenty-two persons were infected with anthrax; five died. At least 17 public buildings were contaminated. The attacks wreaked havoc on the U.S. postal system and disrupted government and commerce, resulting in economic losses estimated to exceed one billion dollars....
  • Terrorism Weekly: Ricin: An Unlikely Weapon of Mass Destruction

    03/05/2008 6:51:25 PM PST · by fight_truth_decay · 6 replies · 613+ views
    Stratfor ^ | March 5, 2008 | 1422 GMT | By Rodger Baker
    A 57-year-old graphic designer and pizza deliveryman, Roger Von Bergendorff, remained in a coma in a Las Vegas-area hospital March 5, nearly two weeks after he apparently inhaled ricin powder, a biological toxin that later was found among his belongings. The FBI is investigating the case to determine how the potentially deadly substance came into Von Bergendorff’s possession —and, more important, what he planned to do with it....
  • US Cities At High Risk For Terrorist Attacks Identified

    03/05/2008 2:24:39 PM PST · by blam · 69 replies · 1,169+ views
    Science Daily ^ | 3-5-2008 | University of Arizona.
    US Cities At High Risk For Terrorist Attacks IdentifiedA color-coded map identifies American cities' level of risk to bioterrorism. Red identifies urban areas of highest risk, yellow is medium risk, and green is lowest risk. (Credit: Walter W. Piegorsch ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2008) — A University of Arizona researcher has created a new system to dramatically show American cities their relative level of vulnerability to bioterrorism. Walter W. Piegorsch, an expert on environmental risk, has placed 132 major cities -- from Albany, N.Y., to Youngstown, Ohio -- on a color-coded map that identifies their level of risk based on factors...
  • OUTBREAK: Leprosy in Arkansas – Brought Here by Whom?

    02/18/2008 7:37:11 AM PST · by captjanaway · 46 replies · 586+ views
    Family Security Matters ^ | 2/18,2008 | Renee Taylor
    In an emergency room in Arkansas, the patient exhibits dark red boils, her skin numb. Another case of leprosy in America. Not far away, a tuberculosis-infected illegal immigrant coughs while on break at the local chicken processing plant – spreading his infectious germs across the break room table. His children, also carrying the disease, which had been all but eradicated from the United States years ago, join hundreds of children at the local public school. Crossing the Mexican border, in a pickup truck filled with “migrant workers” coming to “do the jobs Americans don’t do” in our fields and food...
  • SJSU suspends blood drives, citing FDA ban on donations by gay men

    01/31/2008 2:11:45 PM PST · by SmithL · 56 replies · 580+ views
    San Jose Mercury News ^ | 1/31/8 | Dana Hull
    In a move believed to be the first by a college campus in the nation, San Jose State University President Don Kassing has suspended all campus blood drives because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bars any man who has had sex with another man from donating blood. "The FDA's lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men violates our non-discrimination policy," said Kassing in an e-mail sent to faculty, staff and students. The suspension, which is effective immediately, applies to blood drives arranged by employees representing the university as well as blood drives organized by student groups. The FDA's ban...
  • Is Terrorism Behind Mysterious Crop-Duster Crashes in Philippines?

    12/21/2007 4:14:34 PM PST · by Dog · 33 replies · 246+ views
    pajamasmedia.com ^ | Dec 21 2007 | Annie Jacobsen
    Five crop-duster planes have crashed on the terror-plagued island of Mindanao in a short period of time. Annie Jacobsen says that while it may feel like Mindanao is half a world away, the island’s plantations are linked to the international food supply chain. Is it time to start worrying about what’s being sprayed on your bananas? Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers by Annie Jacobsen There have been five crop-duster plane crashes on the terrorist-plagued island of Mindanao in the Philippines in a 90-day period. The most recent incident happened on December 6. Three of the five crashes occurred on...
  • MRSA 'Deadlier Than Bioweapons'

    10/22/2007 6:55:11 PM PDT · by blam · 62 replies · 258+ views
    MRSA 'deadlier than bioweapons' Last Updated: 2:44am BST 23/10/2007 Superbugs such as MRSA pose a far greater threat to humanity than bioterrorism, a genetics pioneer claimed. Dr Venter warns of the superbug threat The warning came from Craig Venter, an American scientist currently working on a project which uses DNA building blocks to create the world's first synthetic life form. Critics argue that artificially-created microbes – bacteria which can cause disease – potentially pose a grave danger, by either invading the environment or being used to manufacture deadly bioweapons. But Dr Venter maintains that drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA are...
  • Healthcare Administration: Wolper (claims weaponized anthrax developed by 5 Soviet scientists)

    10/21/2007 7:36:55 AM PDT · by TrebleRebel · 169 replies · 675+ views
    Page 609 of this volume is quite intriguing in it's claim. Page 610 is unfortunately restricted in Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=Zts-QdpDiWUC&pg=PA342&dq=healthcare+admin:+Wolper&sig=VRk6LDm6m3PXsNqXDZZ7uUtLgXs#PPA609,M1 "Bioterrorism Preparedness" , in by John D. Blair, Cynthia A.Holubik, Robert K. Keel, Angela M. Roberson, and Steven R. Tomlinson Chapter in HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION, by Lawrence F. Wolper "After participating in several al Qaeda attacks and eventually leading his own cell in Yemen, Shafal was asked to return to Afghanistan to become a cadre member in the training camps. His charismatic leadership and technical proficiency resulted in his becoming one of Osama bin Laden's lieutenants. In 1998, he slipped...
  • Experts detail risks of bioagent program

    10/08/2007 2:19:29 AM PDT · by ZacandPook · 3 replies · 292+ views
    The Los Angeles Times ^ | October 5, 2007 | Jia-Rui Chong
    The growth in research meant to protect the U.S. from bioterrorism is overwhelming the oversight system, a House panel is told. WASHINGTON -- Rapid growth in the number of biodefense laboratories researching deadly pathogens has overwhelmed the government's ability to adequately monitor the program, federal investigators told Congress on Thursday. Officials said the expansion of the program over the last few years, coupled with a lack of training of lab workers and poor reporting of lab accidents, posed a potential threat to national security and public health. *** It was the first time Congress had held a hearing on the...
  • The topic is ANTHRAX - Not Rabbits

    10/07/2007 5:22:21 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 1 replies · 75+ views
    Finneran Lane ^ | 10/07/07 | vanity
    It would be fun to write up something light and amusing about the world of Ms Rabbit, but we are approaching the 6th anniversary of the date on which casually cold-blooded murderers slipped Anthrax-laden letters into a mailbox in Princeton,NJ. There have been a few developments...
  • Flour causes bioterror charge

    08/26/2007 11:50:33 AM PDT · by msrngtp2002 · 27 replies · 703+ views
    Foxnews.com ^ | 8/26/07
    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge.
  • Biosurveillance system ripped

    08/12/2007 8:18:46 PM PDT · by neverdem · 32 replies · 778+ views
    The Washington Times ^ | August 11, 2007 | Rebecca Carr and Alison Young
    COX NEWS SERVICE - The nation's biological surveillance system is "falling short" of its goals some three years after President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security to consolidate biological threats uncovered by agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into a central early-warning system, a new report found. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to provide "consistent leadership and staff support to ensure successful execution" of the program, known as the National Biosurveillance Integration System, according to the report by Inspector General Richard L. Skinner. Mr. Skinner found that the system has "struggled since its inception"...
  • Sabotage is suspected over foot-and-mouth

    08/08/2007 3:02:35 AM PDT · by listenhillary · 16 replies · 787+ views
    Timesonline ^ | 08/08/07 | Lewis Smith
    The deliberate release of viral material, possibly in an act of sabotage, may have caused the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, officials said last night. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said in a report ordered by the Prime Minister that “release by human movement [of the FMD virus] must be considered a real possibility”. Inspectors all but discounted theories that the virus escaped by air or water from the laboratory complex close to where the outbreak started, although they are continuing to investigate the possibility of equipment failure or a security breach.
  • [Los Angeles] County gets $30 million to prepare for bioterrorism

    08/03/2007 12:09:55 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 2 replies · 138+ views
    Valley Press on ^ | Friday, August 3, 2007. | JAMES RUFUS KOREN
    LOS ANGELES - The county will get $30 million this year in new federal funding to help prepare the Department of Public Health and other agencies for pandemic flu or acts of bioterrorism. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday accepted $37.4 million in grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which included more than $7 million in funding rolled over from the last fiscal year. The biggest chunk of the nearly $30 million in new funding is $21 million for basic public health preparedness, said Jonathan Freedman, the head of emergency preparedness and response for the county Department...
  • Concern as revived 1918 flu virus kills monkeys

    01/20/2007 8:06:06 PM PST · by streetpreacher · 53 replies · 1,294+ views
    Nature ^ | January 17, 2006 | Kerri Smith
    Questions raised over safety of revived microbe.Kerri Smith   Natural Museum of Health and Medicine The 1918 influenza virus, which killed some 50 million people worldwide, has proved fatal to macaques infected in a laboratory. The study follows Nature's controversial publication1 of the virus's sequence in 2005, alongside a paper in Science that described the recreation of the virus from a corpse and its potency in mice2. Some scientists question the wisdom of reconstructing such a deadly virus. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Those who carried out the macaque study say yes, as a better understanding of how it...