Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Muslim-Catholic marriages on the rise in Italy
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=48655
Muslim-Catholic marriages on the rise in Italy
Rome, Jan. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - According to the Catholic charitable
organization Caritas, the number of marriages between Italians and
foreign natives living in Italy has risen tenfold in the past 15 years.
In 1991 there were 60,000 such "mixed marriages" registered in Italy;
last year there were 600,000, Caritas reports.
Italian men preferred Filipino, Romanian, Peruvian, and Albanian women.
In contrast, Italian women preferred Senegalese, Tunisians, and
Moroccans. The more affluent northern section of Italy leads the way in
mixed marriages.
About 10% of the mixed marriages involve a Muslim with a Catholic
spouse. In the vast majority of such cases, the children are raised as
Muslims. If the wife is Catholic, statistics show that she is likely to
convert to Islam.
Given the tensions that mark Italian culture today, it is not
surprising
that these mixed marriages are fragile-- although there too the figures
show a geographical difference. The average Catholic-Muslim union lasts
just 5 years in the northern city of Milan, and 13 years in southern
Lecce.
The figures on mixed marriages were released just a day after Pope
Benedict XVI (bio - news) released his annual statement for the World
Day of Migrants and Refugees. In that statement the Pontiff underlined
the need to support the families of migrants as they adjust to a new
cultural surrounding.
A sidenote concerning this Abu Sayyaf group - those involved in the kidnappings had been receiving funding from the Iraqi government; there are Iraqi government documents referring to them which we have obtained.
Also, some Abu Sayyaf leaders admitted they received aid from the Iraqi Baathist government.
Civilian Pilots Provide Target Practice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601755.html?nav=rss_print/asection
Civilian Pilots Provide Target Practice
Military Aircraft Chase Cessnas in Nighttime Drills Over Capital
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; Page A01
As his watch ticks toward midnight, Paul Gardella checks the oil on the
small Cessna 182 parked on a cold, dark airstrip in Fairfax County. He
knows what he soon could be facing: Coast Guard helicopters chasing
him.
F-16s intercepting him. Ground-to-air missiles tracking his every turn.
That's because Gardella -- a software engineer and former military
officer -- is taking on a new role.
Enemy of the U.S. government.
"In the Navy, I was on the other side. I was on the side of the ones
that were shooting," he muses.
Gardella, 50, is among a group of pilots who pose as nighttime
intruders, penetrating restricted airspace over Washington in drills
that take place every few weeks. While area residents slumber, the
volunteers allow the U.S. military to practice intercepting them -- or
worse.
The pilots are with the Civil Air Patrol, a national organization with
a
proud history of service. During World War II, its daredevil pilots
chased German U-boats along the U.S. coast. In the ensuing decades,
volunteers ran bomb-shelter exercises and helped the Air Force search
for crashed planes.
Now, with the country facing terrorist threats, the Civil Air Patrol is
returning to its homeland-defense roots.
"I understand there has to be practice," said Gardella, a laid-back
father of three from Burke. If bad guys are what Uncle Sam needs, he
declared, "I'm happy to help out."
continued....
China, EU sign agreement to create joint law school
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/17/asia/AS-GEN-China-EU-Law-School.php
China, EU sign agreement to create joint law school
BEIJING: The European Union and China signed an agreement Wednesday to
create a law school meant to improve their understanding of each
other's
legal systems.
The agreement was signed by EU Commissioner for External Relations
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who was in Beijing for talks on expanding
EU-Chinese trade and economic ties by updating a 1985 commercial
treaty.
The China-Europe School of Law will "improve the understanding of the
Chinese legal profession of European and international law and will
help
European professionals, academics and students to widen their knowledge
of Chinese law," the EU said in a statement.
The two governments said the law school will be run by a group of
European academic institutions, and at least one Chinese partner. They
did not say when it would begin operation, or where.
The EU said it would contribute ¤18.2 million (US$23.5 million) to
the
project.
Baghdad role for Kurds may pose risks
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10097369.html
Baghdad role for Kurds may pose risks
Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
Washington: The Kurdish makeup of two of the three Iraqi army brigades
due to be sent to Baghdad under President Bush's new strategic plan is
drawing concern from Iraqi and US experts.
Questions have been raised about whether the Kurds would fight Sunni
insurgents in Baghdad at a time when some Sunni clerics and
organisations have spoken out against aiding US troops and the Iraqi
government. But there is also concern that the soldiers would be
heavy-handed if sent into heavily Shiite areas.
Recognised as being among the better-trained fighters in Iraq, the two
brigades were formed out of Kurdistan's Peshmerga militia. They
received
training from the US military and were integrated into the Iraqi army.
Some battalions were used successfully in the Mosul area in November
2004. Others fought in Fallujah.
Professional
The Kurds consider themselves ethnically distinct from Arabs, a group
that includes most Shiite and Sunni Iraqis. While many of their
officers
speak some Arabic, most of the troops do not. Their government flies
the
Kurdish, not Iraqi, flag and desires independence.
North of Baghdad, in oil-rich Kirkuk, peshmerga troops have been
fighting for more than a year against Shiite militiamen linked to
Moqtada Al Sadr's Mehdi Army.
A former senior CIA operations officer who is familiar with Iraq said
on
Monday that sending the units into Baghdad "will not make many friends
for the Kurds, depending on where they go". But, said the officer, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity, "if you are going in to clear a
majority-Sunni area, better to use Kurdish rather than Shiite troops.
... They are obviously better than Iraqi police and more professional."
Last week, Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker and a prominent member of
the Iraqi Kurdish Coalition, declared his opposition to Kurds going
into
Baghdad.
"There are fears that a fight like this, pitting Kurds against the
Arabs, is bound to add an ethnic touch to the conflict," Othman told
the
Iraqi newspaper Az Zaman.
"I am against the move ... and there are many in the Iraqi parliament
who are against it, too."
But the deployment holds appeal for the Kurdistan Regional Government,
because in return, the Baghdad government would be ready to provide it
an additional share of the national budget, a Kurdish official told the
New Anatolian, a Kurdish newspaper, last week.
Turkish PM warns Iraqi Kurds against seeking control of oil-rich Kirkuk
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467746645&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Turkish PM warns Iraqi Kurds against seeking control of oil-rich Kirkuk
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANKARA, Turkey
Turkey's prime minister warned Iraqi Kurdish groups Tuesday against
trying to seize control of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Kurdish
lawmakers responded by accusing Ankara of interfering in internal Iraqi
matters.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not stand by amid
growing tensions among ethnic Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq's
oil-rich north. Turkish lawmakers are to discuss Kirkuk and Iraq on
Thursday, and Turkey's main opposition party has said it would back a
cross-border offensive to quell a Kurdish rebellion.
Iraqi Kurds, who claim the region as their own and hope to eventually
include Kirkuk in an enclave of self-rule in northern Iraq, responded
by
accusing Turkey of interfering in Iraqi internal affairs.
Kurdish legislators in Iraq's parliament "condemn this interference in
Iraqi affairs by the Turkish government (and) ... call upon parliament
to issue a statement condemning them as well," they said in a statement
Tuesday.
Kurdish lawmakers urged parliament to "call upon the Iraqi government
and the Foreign Ministry to take a decisive stance to stop this
interference, and to threaten to cut political and the economic
relations with Turkey in case Turkey keeps its interference."
Turkey fears Iraq's Kurds want Kirkuk's lucrative oil to fund a bid for
independence that could encourage separatist Kurdish guerrillas in
Turkey who have been fighting since 1984 for autonomy.
Erdogan chided an Iraqi Kurdish group for denouncing an Ankara
conference on Kirkuk's future, saying Turkey "cannot digest their
words"
and cannot stand such criticism, recalling how Turkey sheltered more
than 500,000 Iraqi Kurdish refugees who escaped the Iraqi army's
bombardment following a failed Kurdish insurgency in early 1991.
Erdogan reminded Kurds of his country's historical and ethnic ties to
the region.
"Turkey did not remain indifferent to the plight of Kurdish peshmergas
who were escaping oppression and death," he said. "Today, it will not
remain indifferent to the Turkmens, Arabs ... in Kirkuk."
Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire, has a
large minority of ethnic Turks as well as Christians, Shiite and Sunni
Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands of Kurds pushed
out
of the region under Saddam Hussein's rule have flooded back to Kirkuk.
Kirkuk lies just south of the autonomous Kurdish region stretching
across Iraq's northeast. Kurdish leaders want to annex the city, and
Iraq's constitution calls for a referendum on the issue by the end of
next year.
US legislators have warned that Kirkuk is a "powder keg" and have
recommended that the referendum be delayed.
Turkey to extend pipelines to Israel
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MMJSMO0.htm
Turkey to extend pipelines to Israel
Turkey and Israel have tentatively agreed on building a network of
pipelines to ship oil, natural gas and water from Turkey to Israel, the
Energy Ministry said Tuesday.
Under the project, a pipeline already carrying Russian natural gas to
Turkey will be extended to deliver supplies to Israel, the ministry
said. The deal was reached earlier this month during a visit to Israel
by Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, the ministry said.
It was not clear when the deal would be finalized or when construction
would begin.
Turkey and Russia have agreed to hold talks on extending a pipeline
from
the Black Sea port of Samsun to Turkey's Ceyhan oil terminal on the
Mediterranean and then to Israel, the ministry said.
continues...
Report: Suspected al-Qaida militant questioned in Turkey over British engineer's beheading in Iraq
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/16/europe/EU-GEN-Turkey-Britain-Beheading.php
Report: Suspected al-Qaida militant questioned in Turkey over British
engineer's beheading in Iraq
ANKARA, Turkey: A Turkish prosecutor, in the presence of British police
officials, on Tuesday questioned a suspected al-Qaida militant over the
decapitation of British engineer Kenneth Bigley in Iraq, the state-run
Anatolia news agency reported.
Loa'i Mohammed Haj Bakr al-Saqa --- a Syrian who is on trial in
Istanbul
accused of masterminding a series of suicide bombings in the city ---
allegedly presided over an informal court that sentenced Bigley to
death
in Iraq in accordance with Islamic sharia law, his former lawyer, Osman
Karahan, claimed back in April.
The 62-year-old Briton was kidnapped Sept. 16, 2004, with two American
co-workers for Gulf Services Co. All three were beheaded. Bigley's
death
was confirmed Oct. 10, 2004, but his body has never been found.
Anatolia said al-Saqa was interrogated for 1 1/2 hours by Turkish
prosecutor Huseyin Canan in the northwestern city of Kocaeli. A
diplomat
from the British Embassy, three British police officials, interpreters
and a lawyer representing the Syrian were present, the agency reported.
During questioning, Al-Saqa reportedly told Canan that an unnamed
television station based in the United Arab Emirates had footage of
Bigley's beheading, which may hold answers to his murder, Anatolia
reported.
Anatolia said the British officers presented written questions for
al-Saqa to answer, but gave no other details.
Al-Saqa's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. The
British Embassy said it was not able to comment on police matters.
More than 70 suspected al-Qaida militants --- including al-Saqa --- are
on
trial in Istanbul for alleged involvement in a series of suicide
bombings that killed 58 people in the city in 2003.
Iraq defends ties with Iran in defiance of US
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=48963&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Iraq defends ties with Iran in defiance of US
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - ©2005 IranMania.com
Related Pictures
Archived Picture - Iraq's President Jalal Talabani visited Syria on
Sunday and his Foreign Minister called for the release of five Iranians
detained by US forces, according to The Washington Post.
LONDON, January 17 (IranMania) - Iraq's President visited Syria on
Sunday and his Foreign Minister called for the release of five Iranians
detained by US forces, according to The Washington Post.
The incidents underscored the divergent approaches between the Iraqi
government and US officials toward Iraq's neighbors.
Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said
the five Iranians had been in Iraq with the knowledge and permission of
the Iraqi government.
Furthermore, their office in Irbil had been offering "certain consular
service for the local people," he said.
"The Iraqi government is committed to cultivate good neighborly
relations with these two countries and to engage them constructively in
security cooperation," Zebari said of Iran and Syria.
President Bush has claimed both countries of aiding insurgents in Iraq.
"We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria," Bush
warned
in a speech last week.
Both Iraqi and Iranian officials have called for the release of the
five
detainees and have denied that the men helped insurgents.
Iraqi politicians are keen to assert their independence from US
foreign-policy priorities. Their government has built extensive
official
relations with Iran through trade agreements and diplomacy during the
past three years.
"We, as Iraqis, have our own interest," Iraq's said Zebari as quoted by
the Chicago Tribune. "We are bound by geographic destiny to live with"
Iran and Syria.
Zebari's comments reinforced the growing differences between the
Baghdad
government's approach and that of the Bush administration, which has
rejected calls by the non-partisan Iraq Study Group to open talks with
Iran and Syria.
Zebari's comments came two days after Iraq and Iran announced a
security
agreement between the two countries.
"Terrorism threatens not only Iraq but all the regional countries,"
said
Sherwan al-Waili, Iraqi state minister for national security, according
to Iranian radio.
The overtures to Iran follow Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's
appointment last week of a security commander for Baghdad despite
objections from US officials, who favored another candidate.
On Sunday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Syrian President
Bashar Assad in Damascus, the first such high-level meeting between
leaders of the two nations in almost 30 years.
Talabani, a Kurd who spent several years in Syrian exile, brought a
delegation that included Iraq's trade and interior ministers.
"We don't want our country to become a stage for settling differences
between this or that country," Labeed Abbawi, Iraq's deputy foreign
minister, said Friday. "We want Iraq to have a good relationship with
its neighbors."
[Did you hear about the hole/crater in San Paulo, amazing to see...granny]
January 14, 2007
Holy Hole! Videos of the Sao Paulo Crater
A hole that was been digged for Metro contruction in Sao Paulo opened up accidentally on friday afternoon. The hole turned into a massive crater as a nearby tunnel structure collapsed. The hole is so big that as much as 7 persons are said to be missing in it. A small bus was swallowed and 80 houses are damaged on their structures. I will update this post with some of the best videos of the tragedy in You Tube.
This Video by MagOO shows the moment in which a bus falls into the hole. It is very short and it gives you a great idea of the size of the crater. It has no sound.
This one is much longer (6 minutes), the image is poor, but it shows the hole on detail. It is in portuguese and it shows the damage to the nearby streets and houses.
This one goes for about two minutes, has no sound, but it shows a nice aerial view of the hole, including the cars and trucks on its bottom.
http://p6.hostingprod.com/@ricardosblog.com">http://p6.hostingprod.com/@ricardosblog.com/
To download the whole issue for free or subscribe to the Russian
Analytical Digest newsletter, please visit our web page at
http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS
Analysis:
Russia and Georgia After Empire
Tables & Diagrams:
Statistical Data on Trade and Migration Between Russia and Georgia
A Russian View:
Russia Seeks to Promote Peace and Stability in the Caucasus
Opinion Poll:
Russian Attitudes Towards Georgia
A Georgian View:
Have Russian-Georgian Relations Hit Bottom or Will They Continue
to Deteriorate?
Opinion Poll:
Georgian Public Opinion on Foreign Policy Issues
SUMMARIES
Russia and Georgia After Empire
By Erik R. Scott, Berkeley, California
The present crisis between Russia and Georgia can best be understood
by looking at the divergent views these two nations have taken of the
Soviet past. The author examines the crisis as a post-imperial dilemma,
in which tensions run high as both sides struggle to deal with the
complicated legacy of a peculiar Soviet empire. The article stresses
the role of historical memory of the Soviet past, which is present in
the minds of actors on both sides of the conflict and indeed informs
many of the actions that have been taken thus far.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Russia Seeks to Promote Peace and Stability in the Caucasus
By Sergei Markedonov, Moscow
Georgia and Russia have a long history of close relations that soured
in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet eras. Georgia blames many of
its problems on the Russians. Because Russia is not ready for a
unilateral exit from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia has opted for
a strategic relationship with the US. Despite the antagonism of
Georgian leaders, Russia has a vital interest in what happens in and
around Georgia since the stability of the Russian North Caucasus and
the integrity of Russia depend on events there. Russia can play a
useful role in the “frozen conflicts†of the region through the
provision of peacekeepers, which have the strong support of the ethnic
minorities living in Georgia.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Have Russian-Georgian Relations Hit Bottom or Will They Continue to
Deteriorate?
By Ghia Nodia, Tbilisi
Russia and Georgia have opposing view of their conflict. Georgian
leaders claim to have sought better relations but believe that Russia
is unwilling to compromise with them. The main flashpoint, and a cause
of considerable concern in the West, is the separatist regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia sought to exert intense pressure on
Georgia in 2006, but did not achieve any of its political aims. As a
result, the Russian leadership may have given up on its efforts to
effect regime change in Georgia. The problem of the separatist regions,
however, remains unresolved.
Full text: http://www.res.ethz.ch/analysis/rad
Tunisia gunmen 'had embassy plan'
Tunisian police have found plans of embassies and explosives after a gun battle with suspected Islamic extremists, the interior minister says.
A list of names of foreign diplomats in the country was also discovered after the 3 January clash in which 12 gunmen were killed, said Rafik Haj Kacem.
The men were 'terrorists' who had entered from Algeria , Mr Kacem said, according to official news agency Tap.
Police have announced the arrest of 15 men following the encounter.
Mr Kacem described the men as 'Salafist terrorists' - a reference to the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a radical group opposed to Western which aims to create an Islamic state in Algeria .
It is not clear which embassies or diplomats featured in the seized documents.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Date Collected: 1/13/2007
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6257129.stm
Deadly chemicals and lax security are a dangerous combination, especially in the post-9/11 world.
January 1, 2007
Graniteville, S.C., population 1,200, wouldn't make anybody's list of top terrorist targets, but the rural town 10 miles northeast of Augusta, Ga., is Exhibit A in the case for pushing chemicals higher on the risk list of deadly means of attack. At 2:39 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2005, a northbound Norfolk Southern freight train destined for Columbia, S.C., encountered an improperly aligned switch at Graniteville and was diverted from the main line onto another track near the town's commercial district. The train, hurtling through the misaligned switch at about 47 mph, crashed into an unoccupied parked train and collapsed on itself like an accordion. Its two locomotives and 16 of its 42 cars derailed, as did the locomotive and one of two cars of the standing train. The derailment occurred in a yard at Avondale Mills, a textile manufacturing facility that includes several plants.
Had the train been carrying grain or coal or automobiles, it would have been a blip on the screen of railway accidents, thousands of which occur annually. But five of the 16 derailed cars were carrying hazardous materials: Three tank cars held 270 tons of chlorine - one of them was punctured. Another car held sodium hydroxide, and the fifth held residue of rosin, which is transported as a heated liquid.
Chlorine is a poisonous gas. When inhaled, it reacts with moisture in the respiratory tract to form hydrochloric acid, which inflames the lungs. Severe exposure causes death by suffocation. According to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the crash, the chlorine rapidly vaporized and expanded when it spilled from the punctured car, creating a toxic cloud around the derailment site. Within minutes of the crash, six mill workers, some of whom worked on loading docks, a truck driver at one of the plant facilities and a nearby resident were dead. In all the cases, the coroner reported asphyxia as the cause of death. The conductor and engineer survived the crash and fled on foot before the engineer collapsed. Passersby quickly got them to a local hospital for treatment. The conductor was treated and released, but the engineer died several hours later from chlorine exposure.
Hundreds of mill workers and residents fled on their own or were rescued by local fire and law enforcement personnel, some of whom arrived just minutes after the crash. The emergency response was efficient and effective, according to the NTSB investigation. More than 550 people were taken to hospitals; 75 were admitted for treatment, including a firefighter who remained hospitalized for days.
While there was no accompanying fire, the gas is so corrosive that it destroyed two fire department pumper trucks, one medical unit vehicle and one service truck that reported to the scene. It corroded wiring in cars and cell phones, bleached buildings and turned formerly lush foliage pale green. It crept through homes and offices, where it ate away electrical wiring and circuit boards in computers, destroying financial records and other critical data at the mill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later documented that four family pets suffered respiratory failure and died, and that fish in nearby Horse Creek were killed off when chlorine gas combined with water vapor, dousing them in hydrochloric acid. Residents were prohibited from returning to their homes and workers to their jobs for two weeks while the cleanup and investigations took place.
As horrific as the accident was for those involved, it was just that: an accident. NTSB found that railway workers had failed to realign the tracks after moving a local train onto the industry tracks the previous evening; an FBI hazardous materials unit found no evidence that anyone had tampered with the switch. A simple human error, the cause of most railway accidents, was to blame.
But that finding is hardly reassuring. Instead, the accident highlights the tremendous vulnerability of millions of Americans nationwide to a chemical accident or deliberate chemical attack. Had the Graniteville accident occurred elsewhere, say, in northern New Jersey, during the middle of the business day, thousands of people might have been killed. Even in Graniteville, it could have been far worse: The punctured rail car was relatively new and among the strongest tank cars currently in service; an accident involving an older tank car could have released more chlorine more quickly. If the accident had occurred a few hours later, hundreds more people could have been exposed to the gas.
Despite the known threat, which Richard Falkenrath, former Homeland Security director of policy and plans, calls 'the most severe and widespread mass casualty vulnerability in America today,' Congress and the administration have done relatively little to mitigate it in the five years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The implementation of safety standards at chemical plants largely falls to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but until now, security measures have been voluntarily adopted, or not, by the chemical industry. The 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, signed into law in October, for the first time requires the Homeland Security Department to publish interim rules for chemical plant security by April 2008, and to establish risk-based performance standards for chemical facilities. It also gives the DHS secretary the power to shut plants that do not meet the standards. But many questions remain. The law allows for 'alternative security programs established by private sector entities' and exempts public water facilities and wastewater treatment plants, the main users of chlorine. It also does not address chemical transport, where serious vulnerabilities remain.
Life and Death Matters
In the hierarchy of chemical hazards, gases - or toxic inhalation hazards in industry parlance - present the greatest catastrophic potential. The two most common TIH chemicals are ammonia and chlorine, and as dangerous as they are (the U.S. Naval Research Lab estimated that a chlorine tanker car rupture in Washington could kill 100,000 people in half an hour, depending on weather conditions and time of day), they are essential components of modern life. Chlorine, which is used to make drinking water safe and wastewater harmless, might have saved more lives worldwide than any other substance.
TIH industrial chemicals routinely are shipped through and stored near large population centers in multiton quantities. Falkenrath, one of the most outspoken proponents of boosting chemical security, repeatedly has called for greater regulation of the manufacture, storage and shipment of TIH chemicals. As a White House staff member after Sept. 11 and then senior policy planner at Homeland Security from 2002 until 2004, Falkenrath was responsible for chemical security, among other things. A year after he left DHS, while serving as a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, he told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he felt compelled to speak out about the chemical security issue, despite his opposition to 'calling attention to America's most serious vulnerabilities.'
'I have come to the conclusion that, in my current capacity as a private citizen, a blunt public discussion of my analysis of this issue is a better course of action than silence,' he said. His assessment was indeed blunt: 'The security that exists at any particular facility is essentially the outcome of voluntary, discretionary decisions made by the owners and operators of the facilities. There is no security whatsoever along TIH transportation routes. There exists no comprehensive, authoritative assessment of the quality of the security of U.S. chemical facilities and the conveyance systems, but anecdotal information of poor or nonexistent security in this sector is overwhelming.'
Although there is some debate about how dangerous the most dangerous facilities are, Falkenrath said even the most conservative estimates recognize there is at least one U.S. facility which, if attacked, could result in more than 1 million deaths. Scientific estimates of attack scenarios that could result in tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths are 'commonplace,' he said.
'It is a fallacy to think that profit-maximizing corporations engaged in a trade as inherently dangerous as the manufacture and shipment of TIH chemicals will ever voluntarily provide a level of security that is appropriate given the larger external risk to society as a whole,' Falkenrath said. 'Nor is this an especially radical point of view: The body politic does not trust nuclear power plant or commercial airport operators to provide appropriate levels of security on a voluntary basis, and for good reason.' He called for a comprehensive inventory of all chemical facilities, organized by risk into tiers; graduated standards for facilities in each tier; a certification procedure by which owners vouch for security standards at their facilities; a verification procedure by which federal officials confirm that certifications are complete and accurate; a compliance mechanism of escalating penalties by which federal agents could compel facilities to meet security standards; and an appeals process by which plant owners could contest government findings and penalties.
In addition, Falkenrath called for statutory provisions to protect information surrounding the vulnerability of specific chemical facilities. 'A referral of a chemical security issue to the courts should not result in the publication of information which could assist a terrorist organization in locating and attacking a target which presents the potential for catastrophic civilian casualties,' he said.
Now the deputy commissioner of counterterrorism for the New York Police Department, Falkenrath reiterated his concerns before the same committee in September. 'My view of this matter has not changed,' he said.
Steven G. King, director of Homeland Security's chemical security office, wrote in a recent issue of The Guardian, a quarterly newsletter for the Infragard National Member Alliance, that Homeland Security is conducting vulnerability assessments at 300 chemical facilities across the country where an attack could potentially affect more than 50,000 people. The alliance is a member organization developed by the FBI in 1996 and is dedicated to critical infrastructure protection. In addition, DHS is developing a specific chemical sector plan under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, King wrote.
It's not clear how the 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations Act will bolster that plan (a DHS spokeswoman did not respond to repeated requests to interview King or someone on his staff), but King noted in his article the problem with relying on companies to voluntarily meet higher standards: 'While many companies have taken this responsibility quite seriously and spent significant resources enhancing the security of their facilities, not all companies have done so. As a result, the nation is being held hostage by those few who have not undertaken the responsibility that they have to make sure their facilities are secured to an appropriate level.'
Safety vs. Security
Even with more authority granted under the 2007 appropriation law, it is unclear how much Homeland Security realistically can do. There are more than 15,000 facilities in the United States that produce, use or store hazardous chemicals in amounts the Environmental Protection Agency identifies as posing the greatest risk to human health and the environment. The Government Accountability Office identified more than 100 plants that, if attacked, would threaten the lives of more than 1 million Americans. Homeland Security itself has identified about 3,400 high-priority chemical facilities. Evaluating those plants, establishing security standards and then enforcing those standards will take time and effort.
And the plants themselves are only part of the challenge. The Transportation Department estimates 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials travel daily throughout the United States by ground, rail, air, water and pipeline. And while most chemicals reach their destination safely, some rail shipments are so dangerous to humans that the CDC last year recommended diverting them around major metropolitan areas whenever feasible. After the Graniteville accident, the Washington city council passed a law banning rail shipments of hazardous materials through downtown. International shipper and railroad company CSX sued the District, claiming it overreached its authority (a claim the federal government supports), and a federal judge stayed the ban until the case can be decided. Other cities have considered similar bans, but none has passed one.
'Traffic and the congestion that goes with it are growing in every area of transportation - rail is no exception,' says Joseph H. Boardman, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. The increase in traffic, including loads of hazardous materials, translates to a higher risk of accidents, most caused by human error, he says.
He attributes the increase in hazardous shipments largely to the growing use of ethanol. 'But there's hazardous materials, and then there's TIH. With TIH, we're taking steps working with industry to reduce the amount of TIH that's moving across the country.'
Since 1965, there have been 2.2 million tank car shipments of chlorine, according to the rail administration. Of those, 788, or 0.036 percent, were involved in accidents. Eleven of those accidents, or 0.0005 percent of all shipments, resulted in catastrophic loss, meaning all of the chlorine was released. Of those 11, four resulted in 24 fatalities, including the Graniteville accident that killed nine. In May 2005, four months after Graniteville, the FRA initiated its Rail Safety Action Plan aimed at, among other things, reducing human error. Boardman says the plan has improved rail safety: Between January and June 2005, there were 610 rail accidents attributed to human error. Over the same time period this year, there were 488. In late December, Homeland Security proposed new rules requiring shippers to ensure custody of TIH shipments from point of origin to final destination. Additionally, TSA will create a tracking system to quickly locate rail cars carrying TIH materials, according to an agency announcement.
While safety and security are related, they should not be conflated, Boardman says. 'We've had zero attacks and therefore zero fatalities in our rail system since 9/11, but that's not so in the rest of the world.' Between Sept. 11, 2001, and the end of 2005, Boardman says deliberate attacks on rail systems overseas killed nearly 500 people. 'They've occurred in India, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom, and they contribute to our collective anxiety and fear.'
Over the same period, however, there were about 4,000 fatalities on the rails in the United States - none due to terrorism, all related to safety issues. 'That points out to me that the FRA [has] to research and help design devices to help prevent injury, to establish and require compliance with proper inspection, repair and operating practices - all those things, without being so diverted from that for security issues that we don't continue to work on reducing that number of 4,000.'
'Safety first is the motto in transportation. Safety today is a state of being certain that adverse effects will not be caused by some agent under defined conditions. That benefits security. We're not differentiating what that agent is - we could have a broken rail, and that could be from a bar fracture, from vandals or from something worse,' Boardman says. 'But there are some risks, such as a terrorist attack on a passenger train, that are really beyond the conditions that FRA and [the Transportation Department] considered when they set the standards.'
Date Collected: 1/7/2007
Source: http://www.govexec.com/features/0107-01/0107-01s2.htm
Medical mystery around student infections deepens
11:07 AM EST on Wednesday, January 3, 2007
By FELICE J. FREYER and KATE BRAMSON
Journal and projo.co staff writers
Health investigators concluded today that a third child, a West Warwick middle schooler, suffered from encephalitis probably brought on by a common infection that usually causes pneumonia, deepening a medical mystery that has drawn the attention of federal medical authorities.
The bacteria that seems to have caused the infection, mycoplasma pneumoniae, very rarely causes encephalitis, and encephalitis itself is extremely rare, so the cluster of three cases -- which included one death -- has prompted an intensive investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The surviving children have recovered.
Five doctors from the federal agency are in Rhode Island talking with school nurses and the families of children who have been out of school, trying to identify any additional cases. One possibility under consideration is that a new, more virulent strain of the bacteria may have developed, according to Dr. David R. Gifford, Rhode Island director of health.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common bacteria that spreads much like a cold and usually manifests itself as bronchitis, or as walking pneumonia. In what health officials say are 'very, very rare' cases, people who contract the bacteria can develop meningitis, an inflammation around the brain, or encephalitis.
Anyone with symptoms of walking pneumonia should seek treatment, health officials say. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Any symptoms of meningitis or encephalitis should prompt urgent medical evaluation, according to the Health Department. Such symptoms include moderate to severe headaches, disorientation or confusion, fever and neck stiffness.
Gifford met with 40 to 50 parents this morning on the campus of Deering and the West Warwick High School. After the meeting, Gifford characterized the level of concern among parents at the meeting as 'appropriate.'
He told them that good hygiene procedures, such as regular hand washing, and covering up while coughing is the best way to prevent the spread of the mycoplasma bacteria. Children in schools are no longer told to cover their mouths with their hands, but rather the common advice now is to sneeze and cough into the crook of one's elbow.
So far, health officials do not know of any children currently ill with mycoplasma or with encephalitis. All the eight known mycoplasma cases -- which include five children who had pneumonia without encephalitis -- occurred in November and December.
Seven of the eight infections were in children who attended the Greenwood Elementary School in Warwick. The Health Department has closed the school for this week, and has offered antibiotics to the families every student. Nearly all agreed to take the drugs.
The Health Department distributed 1,182 doses of antibiotics on Sunday, yesterday and today. The department ordered the drugs from a distributor at a cost of $57,000, charged to a Health Department credit card. Several children had upset stomachs, a common reaction to the medication, but no allergic reactions were reported.
Health officials have asked all schools in the state to examine their absentee records and report back to the department if they believe their students have had excessive respiratory illnesses lately.
If a school believes they have had an excessive amount of respiratory illnesses, the Health Department and CDC specialists will investigate further, according to Dr. Robert Crausman, chief administrative officer of the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
Also today, health officials continue to distribute written questions to parents to monitor whether their children have been sick recently.
In West Warwick, the questionnaires ask if children have been to the doctor for sickness since Oct. 1. If yes, parents are asked to list their symptoms and whether the children had chest X-rays, were given antibiotics and were diagnosed with pneumonia.
Also, state health officials have established a toll-free information line at (800) 942-7434 for parents of children in Warwick, West Warwick and Coventry schools. People can also visit the Health Department's Web site for more information.
Date Collected: 1/4/2007
Source: http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo-20070102-healthprobe.49c2ab.html#
Military Intelligence — Contract award signals ball drop for lab
Published on January 3, 2007
It won't be long before the doors to Fort Detrick's huge homeland security laboratory swing open, as evidenced by our collective calendar turning to 2007 and the recent awarding of a management contract to Battelle.
Some herald the laboratory, scheduled to begin operating in June 2008, as helping keep us safe from biological terrorism, calling to mind the October 2001 anthrax mail attacks that killed five people.
Opponents question the need for another nearby laboratory that studies the most dangerous biological agents, some of which cause diseases that have no cure.
Fort Detrick is already home to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of the few laboratories in the country equipped to work with these agents. This year the Army may be sued by a Frederick opposition group, which says the Army hasn't adequately considered the impact of building a new replacement USAMRIID.
Regardless of your take on the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, January marks a mere 16 months from the laboratory becoming one of our neighbors.
The laboratory will be run by Battelle Memorial Institute, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in late December.
The DHS will pay Battelle $250 million over five years to manage and operate the lab, with up to five subsequent one-year extensions for a total of up to $500 million.
Battelle, a research and technology development non-profit institute, is based in Columbus, Ohio, and formed Battelle National Biodefense Institute to manage the lab. Battelle manages or co-manages five national laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy.
NBACC is part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus on post. The laboratory will be 160,000 square feet, with about 120 employees, the homeland security department said.
NBACC's mission, split between two centers, is to understand biological threats, assess threat vulnerabilities and analyze evidence from terrorism and biological crimes.
Six BSL-4 laboratories now operate in the United States, including Fort Detrick's USAMRIID, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the Viral Immunology Center at Georgia State University in Atlanta, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.
Date Collected: 1/4/2007
Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/notebooks/display.htm?storyid=55346
Anthrax attack posed greater potential threat than thought
[Jan 4 07 Silver Spring MD USA]--A new study shows that more people were at risk of anthrax infection in the Oct. 2001 attack on U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle's office than previously known. The research is published in the January 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. On the other hand, the study shows, prompt intervention with antibiotics and vaccination appeared to be highly effective against the disease.
In October of 2001, a letter containing spores of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes the deadly disease anthrax, was opened in Daschle's office at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Those in or near Daschle's office, judged likely to have been exposed to the spores, received antibiotics or a vaccine, as did others within or outside the building, and no deaths resulted from this act of bioterrorism. According to the new study of the event, however, people in areas assumed to be at minimal risk of exposure showed immune responses suggesting they had been exposed.
The researchers, Denise L. Doolan, PhD, MPH, Daniel A. Freilich, MD, and coworkers of the Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, and elsewhere, prospectively studied clinical outcomes and immune responses in 123 subjects including 83 people who were nearby when the letter containing the anthrax spores was opened; 20 who were outside the building and presumed to be unexposed; and, for comparison, six individuals vaccinated against B. anthracis, two confirmed to have had anthrax, and 12 with no known B. anthracis exposure.
The results: Immune responses occurred not only in subjects in or near the Daschle office but also in those elsewhere in the Hart building, or even outside the building; the extent of exposure was thus greater than predicted. No associations were seen between exposure levels and immune responses or symptoms, but the most-exposed subjects were the only ones to have high-magnitude responses. Low-level exposure did not appear to trigger an antibody response, but did induce a response by cells of the immune system, Intermediate exposure induced both. Finally, cellular immune responses declined with post-exposure use of antibiotics, suggesting that the intervention impeded spore germination and implying that it may reduce the incidence of both subclinical and clinical B. anthracis infection.
In an accompanying editorial, James L. Hadler, MD, MPH, of the Infectious Diseases Section of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, commented that the study by Doolan and coworkers is 'one of the few studies of the immune response to high-level, naturally occurring anthrax exposure in humans, and may be the first to describe cell-mediated responses to this pathogen.' Dr. Hadler said that the study's data suggest that cell-mediated responses in B. anthracis infection may be more sensitive than antibody responses, and he recommended that future studies of anthrax vaccines investigate cellular immunity's role in inhibiting the pathogen.
Date Collected: 1/4/2007
Source:
http://www.bigmedicine.ca/bioscitech.htm#Anthrax_attack_posed_greater_potential_threat_than_thought
Over 100 Biotech Labs Refuse To Divulge Operations Having Germ Warfare Potential
by Sherwood Ross
Some 113 university, government, hospital and corporate laboratories engaged in research often with potential to be used for germ warfare have refused to disclose their operations to the public as required by Federal rules, a nonprofit watchdog agency has charged.
Instead of shutting their operations down, however, the National Institutes of Health(NIH), of Bethesda, Md., the government agency tasked with oversight of these laboratories, allows them to continue to operate, a peculiar stance for an entity that describes itself as 'the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation.'
From California to New Jersey and from Boston to San Antonio, often in the heart of major centers of population, biological warfare labs lavishly financed with their share of about $20-billion by the Bush administration since 2001 are literally crawling with deadly germs from Spanish flu to plague to anthrax to tularemia to rift valley fever. Reportedly,in some of the laboratories security is lax and safety procedures inadequate to protect the public from exposure to deadly pathogens.
Under U.S. law, recipients of Federal funds for biotech research must comply with guidelines issued by the NIH. These include making available to the public the minutes of the labs' Institutional Biosafety Committees(IBC)meetings, describing their
operations and plans. In a number of instances, these IBC's have never bothered to hold a meeting. In other cases, the minutes they furnish are devoid of substance.
Basically, their operations in many cases are being kept secret, according to watchdog Sunshine Project of Austin, Tex., a nonprofit that attempts to protect the public from the risks of biotechnology experiments. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention(BWC), which the US signed, prohibits research on offensive biological weapons. If the work is performed in secret, however, weapons designed for offensive use could be concealed. In the 1930s, the Japanese military masked its secret germ warfare
scheme as a water purification project.
As the government-funded labs engage in 'dual-use research,' (pathogen research having both offensive and defensive applications), Sunshine's Edward Hammond reports he 'has encountered grave problems with the system.' These include 'risky experiments approved with dubious safety precautions and/or inadequate IBC review,dysfunctional and otherwise noncompliant committees, and other types of biosafety problems.'
Francis Boyle, an international legal expert at the University of Illinois, Champaign, puts it more bluntly. He called the in-house university committees 'a joke and a fraud' that provide 'no protection to anyone.' Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress, states the Pentagon 'is now gearing up to fight and 'win' biological warfare' pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives
adopted 'without public knowledge and review' in 2002.
Last November 7th, Hammond lodged a complaint with Dr. Amy Patterson, director of the Office of Biotechnology Activities at NIH, citing 113 institutions 'for non-compliance with the NIH Guidelines,' specifically for refusing to honor requests for IBC meeting minutes.
'Honoring these requests is not only mandatory under the NIH Guidelines that you are charged with enforcing (but) transparency is also a moral duty of institutions that conduct research, such as rDNA and select agent work that could endanger the
public,' Hammond added. He wrote Patterson, 'Failing prompt compliance by these
institutions we note that your office must do its duty under NIH Guidelines and terminate funding.'
NIH's Patterson apparently had troubles of her own obtaining information from labs on the Federal payroll. On Dec. 6, 2004, she issued a 'reminder' to universities engaged in research that stated 'compliance with the NIH Guidelines is critical to the safe conduct of research and to the fulfillment of an institutional commitment to the
protection of staff, the environment, and public health.'
Since 9/11, biotech houses, military laboratories, and State and private universities across America, and others sited in Canada, Australia, and South Africa, have collectively lapped up record sums in Federal R&D dollars.
How big is this enterprise? At just one venue, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research(SFBR) in San Antonio, Tex., there are 6,000 caged chimpanzees, baboons, and other primates, Sunshine reports, whose upkeep alone costs U.S. taxpayers
$6-million annually. SFBR genetically engineers monkeys and harbors some of the world's most dangerous viruses such as Ebola and Lassa, authorities state.
Again, the Battelle National Biodefense Institute(BNBI) of Columbus, Ohio, has just received a $250-million, five-year award from the Department of Homeland Security to run the new biodefense analysis center under construction at Fort Detrick, Md., according to The Washington Post of December 25, 2006.
Earlier, on July 30th of last year, The Post reported much of what transpires at the center may never be publicly known as the Bush administration 'intends to operate the facility largely in secret.'
Battelle also does not maintain an effective IBC, Sunshine charges. 'Some of the resarch falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray
zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons,' The Post reported. 'The administration dismisses these concerns, however, insisting that the work...is purely defensive and
thus fully legal. It has rejected calls for oversight by independent observers outside the
(Homeland Security) Department's network of government scientists and contractors.'
The paper quoted Milton Leitenberg, a weapons expert at the University of Maryland stating, 'If we saw others doing this kind of research, we would view it as an infringement of the bioweapons treaty. You can't go around the world yelling about
Iranian and North Korean programs ---about which we know very little ---when we've got all this going on.'
The Post reported the operation would encompass about 160,000 gross square feet of working area and accommodate a staff of about 120. The Post noted, 'Fort Detrick's history as the incubator of germ warfare research casts a long shadow over the new lab. When the fort held the Pentagon's very highly classified and long abandoned
biological warfare program, it was a magnet for antiwar protests in the Vietnam War era.'
In such labs, scientists can create new strains of disease for which those attacked would have no ready defense. Such weapons, once loosed, are notoriously difficult to control, and could ignite epidemics to sicken and terrify civilian populations.
Hammond believes there are about 400 bioweapons agents labs across the U.S., some of which encounter unexpected difficulty when they try to comply with the law.
David Perlin, president of the Public Health Research Institute(PHRI) of Newark, N.J., told Sunshine the FBI requested PHRI to enter into an agreement with them to 'not publicly disclose which specific select agent pathogens and/or strains are stored at our facility.'
Those who tend to dismiss NIH's laxity about enforcing its own regulations have only to recall the October, 2001, anthrax attacks on Congress and the media. The deadly strain released is believed to have come from a U.S. germ warfare lab at Fort Detrick although there is no certainty as the FBI has never solved the murders. Since then, the
vast proliferation of such labs by the Bush administration has educated many new employees --- in some cases undergraduate students --- in germ warfare ops. Four employees at Fort Detrick are known to have died after performing lab work.
Lack of transparencey is cause for concern if only because of the history of secret CIA and Pentagon experiments in germ warfare that used the American people as guinea pigs. In ' Rogue State,' (Common Courage Press) reporter William Blum noted those
agencies over two decades 'conducted tests in the open air in the United States, exposing millions of Americans to large clouds of possibly dangerous bacteria and chemical particles.'
Between 1949 and 1969, the Army tested the spread of dangerous chemical and bacterial organisms over 239 U.S. populated areas including San Francisco , New York and Chicago with no warnings to the public or regard for the health consequences, Blum wrote. The Pentagon even sprayed navy warships to test the
impact of germ warfare on U.S. sailors.
Even deadlier cocktails were secretly provided to dictator Saddam Hussein for his war of aggression against Iran. Washington denied supplying them but as Robert Fisk reported in Great Britain's 'The Independent' last December 31st, 'prior to 1985 and
afterwards, US companies had sent government-approved shipments of biological agents to Iraq,' including anthrax. Fisk gives this eye-witness account of what he saw on a military hospital train carrying stricken men from the front back to Tehran:
'I found hundreds of Iranian soldiers coughing blood and mucus from their lungs --- the very carriages stank so much of gas that I had to open the windows--- and their arms and faces were covered with boils. Later, new bubbles of skin appeared on top of their original boils. Many were fearfully burnt. These same gases were later used on the Kurds of Halabja.'
Thus, the Reagan administration, which escalated germ warfare research and allowed the sale of the pathogens to Hussein, took its place in the dark annals of military history along with Italy under Benito Mussolini, whose aviators dumped mustard gas on the Ethiopians and Japan under Emperor Hirohito, whose Imperial Army's germ warfare attacks killed thousands of Chinese civilians.
Because of their comparative cheapness to manufacture, biological weapons have been dubbed 'the poor man's nuclear bomb.' Yet their potential may be even deadlier. Jeremy Rifkin, author of 'The Biotech Century'(Penguin), noted a government study in 1993 found 'the release of just 200 pounds of anthrax spores from a plane over
Washington DC could kill as many as three-million people.'
The secret operations of the labs' would be less ominous if the Bush administration hadn't led the fight to demolish the international inspection system. Jackie Cabasso,executive director of Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, Calif., warned, 'Last year (2001), the U.S. single-handedly blew apart an international system for inspections
of these kinds of (biological) laboratories, a system that would have made great strides toward ensuring that biodefense labs aren't abused for offensive purposes. Having thumbed our nose at the world, the US is now massively expanding its biodefense program, mostly in secretive facilities.'
According to Boyle, President Bush 'sabotaged the Verification Protocol for the BWC' as it was on the verge of conclusion and success. He said the U.S. 'fully intended to get back into the research, development and testing of illegal and criminal offensive biowarfare programs.' Boyle is the author of 'Biowarfare and Terrorism,' Clarity Press.
And Elisa Harris, former arms control official under President Clinton, told The New York Times in 2003 'It (the administration's actions) will raise concerns in other capitals in part because the United States has fought tooth and nail to prevent the international community from strengthening the germ treaty.'
Among pharmaceutical houses not in compliance with NIH disclosure requirements are Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park and Worchester, Agencourt Bioscience Corp.;Antibody Science, Inc.; BASF Plant Science, Bristol-Myers Squibb and its Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Connecticut; Centocor, Inc.; Chiron; Discovery Genomics Inc.; DuPont Central Research and Development; Embrex, Inc.; Genentech,
Inc., Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge and Framingham, Mass.; GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Inc. and its Rahway, N.J., research site; Integral Molecular; Introgen Therapeutics; L2 Diagnostics LLC; Merck & Co. Inc., West Point; Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, N.J.; Meridian Bioscience Inc.; Monsanto Co. Mystic, Conn.; New Link Genetics; NovaFlora, Inc.; NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals; OSI Pharmaceuticals; Pfizer Inc., and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals of St. Louis, Roche Bioscience, Schering-Plough Research Institute; SelectX Pharmaceuticals; Serono Research Institution; Third Wave Technologies; and Vaxin, Inc.
Federal entities involved include the Center for Disease Control, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, VA hospitals in Stratton, Va.; the Jerry Pettis Memorial hospital and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Also, the Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Plum Island Animal Disease Center of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Navy Medical Research Center.
Other fund recipients include AERAS Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Battelle, CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Inc.; Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Children's National Medical Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Columbus Children's Research Institute, Hadassah Medical Organization, Lovelace
Respiratory Research Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, and Scripps Clinic.
Among universities in non-compliance: Alabama A&M, Albany Medical College, Ball State, Brigham Young, Bucknell, Central Michigan, Drexel College of Medicine,Hackensack University Medical Center, Hunter College, Indiana State University,
Purdue University, Loma Linda, Missouri State, New York Medical College, and Queens College of City University of New York.
Also, Rider, Rockefeller University, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, South Dakota State University, St. John's University, State University of New York at Binghamton, Brockport, and Buffalo; Towson, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School(UMDNJ), and University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.
Also, the universities of Arizona, California at San Francisco, Maryland, Massachusetts, Miami, Fla.; Mississippi; Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Southern Mississippi, Texas at Arlington and San Antonio, Tulsa, Utah State, Wake Forest,
Washington University in St. Louis, Western Kentucky and Wilkes.
Foreign institutions include the University of Sydney, Australia; the University of British
Columbia , and University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. This listing covers most, but not all, of the names submitted to NIH by the Sunshine Project. Three years ago, Sunshine said if it had to pick the labs with the worst biosafety record-keeping, he would choose Princeton University, the University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas; the University of Vermont at Burlington and the University of Delaware at Newark.
Sunshine's Hammond said there has yet to be any formal response to his letter of last November from NIH. He added, 'I doubt I will ever get one.'
The NIH was asked to respond to the charges contained in this article but has yet not
done so.
In sum, the costliest, most grandiose research scheme ever attempted having germ warfare capability is going forward today under President Bush and in apparent defiance of international treaties such as the Geneva Convention of 1925 that bans biological agents. What's more, where once the use of germ warfare was an isolated happenstance -- such as when an English general in 1767 gave smallpox-laced blankets to the Indians that decimated their tribes -- research in this grim area today suggests it has been elevated to an instrument of national policy. And this program,
involving some of the world's deadliest and most loathsome pathogens, many of which could trigger plagues and epidemics, is being conducted largely in secret without adequate oversight and in flagrant contempt of NIH's own rules. Why?
#
(Sherwood Ross is an American reporter and columnist. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com)
Sherwood Ross has worked in the civil rights movement and as a reporter for major dailies and wire services.
Date Collected: 1/8/2007
Source:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_070106_over_100_biotech_lab.htm
BARDA Is Coming
Over at DefenseTech, I blogged about the recent Senate legislation to develop the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA). This new agency, to be formed under the Department for Health and Human Services (DHHS), is intended to shepherd small firms developing new medical countermeasures for responding to terrorist CBRN incidents. In the Tuesday Washington Post, there was word that the House has agreed to the Senate language, and the bill is on it's way to the White House.
More than a year in the making, the legislation was considered by many to be an effort to salvage the two-year-old Project BioShield, which has been marked by delays and operational problems. Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the incoming majority leader, listed it among his priorities for Congress's lame-duck session.
Senator Gregg Calls on HHS Secretary Leavitt to Provide Update on Management of Project BioShield Provision to Stockpile Bioterror Vaccines
January 11, 2007
Contact: Erin Rath
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, today called on Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt to provide a comprehensive update on the current status of the BioShield program. The Project BioShield law, passed in 2004 and sponsored by Senator Gregg, directs HHS to prepare for such an event by encouraging the creation and procurement of vaccines and other countermeasures to effectively respond to a biological event.
'The potential for a biological or bioterror event in the United States is real and must be addressed,' stated Senator Gregg. 'Project BioShield was passed to speed the development and acquisition of vaccines and countermeasures to combat a bioterror attack, and HHS needs to show progress in this effort.
'However, the news that the initial BioShield contract has been terminated is not a reassuring sign. BioShield is a crucial program that addresses a serious threat to our nation, and HHS needs to deliver results. I want to make sure BioShield is on track, and if not, what needs to be done to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines and countermeasures.'
In the 109th Congress, Senator Gregg co-sponsored the Pandemic and All-Hazard Preparedness Act which was signed into law by President Bush on December 20, 2006. The measure would establish the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the Office of Emergency Preparedness, to fund cutting-edge research and development of medical countermeasures, including drugs and vaccines, to fight bioterrorism and natural disease outbreaks.
The full letter to Secretary Leavitt follows:
Dear Secretary Leavitt:
I am requesting additional information from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the management of Project BioShield and its future viability, specifically regarding the development and supply of vaccines and countermeasures necessary to protect the health of Americans from potential bioterrorism attacks.
The Project BioShield Act of 2004, which I sponsored, provides expedited procedures for bioterrorism-related procurement, hiring, and awarding of research grants, making it easier for HHS to commit substantial funds to countermeasure research and development. As you know, this legislation gives the HHS Secretary the authority to contract to purchase countermeasures while they still have several more years of product development.
In continuation of this effort, I co-sponsored the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, which President Bush signed into law on December 20, 2006. This legislation creates the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) under the direction of HHS, which will focus on directing advanced research and development of vaccines and therapeutics for use against biological attacks.
In 2004, HHS awarded the first Project BioShield contract to VaxGen, Inc. to provide 75 million doses of their recombinant anthrax vaccine within 3 years. In November 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a clinical hold on VaxGen’s Phase II clinical trial for failure to demonstrate sufficient vaccine stability. On December 19, 2006, the FDA declined to lift the clinical hold and as a result VaxGen was unable to meet their contractual performance milestones and HHS therefore terminated the procurement contract for breach.
I am concerned about the management and future success of this crucial program. By continuing to place such a large concentration of resources into the development of one experimental product, HHS assumes a high level of risk of future vaccine shortages.
Toward this end, does HHS still believe that 75 million doses of anthrax vaccines are needed to protect the U.S. population? If so, I request that HHS detail how it plans to make up for the anticipated shortfall in anthrax vaccines due to the termination of the VaxGen contract, including whether or not the federal government has further plans to purchase larger supplies of traditional anthrax vaccines that are currently on the market. If not, what has created this reduced need for anthrax vaccines?
In addition, please describe why HHS put such a large percentage of its resources into one type of vaccine from one source, rather than simultaneously seeking other potential sources for anthrax vaccines. What steps is HHS taking to ensure that future contracts will not be managed in this fashion?
Thank you for your dedication and continued efforts to prepare and respond to a bioterror incident. I look forward to a response so that action can be taken immediately to develop and supply the U.S. population with much needed countermeasures. If your staff has any questions about this request or requires additional information, please have them contact Elizabeth Wroe in my office at (202) 224-0642.
Sincerely,
Judd Gregg
Date Collected: 1/15/2007
Source: http://gregg.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=12911b1e-802a-23ad-4f85-8e74577bef1d
Bush signs into law offer of incentives for vaccines
Biotech companies to get cash up front for research
Mcclatchy-tribune
Originally published December 20, 2006
WASHINGTON // Desperate for vaccines and medicines to ward off such deadly threats as anthrax, Ebola, smallpox and avian flu, Congress wants to give drug companies a new incentive: cash up front.
President Bush signed legislation yesterday that creates a somewhat controversial bureaucracy that would give tax dollars to private companies and universities to develop vaccines and treatments.
Scientists would contract with the federal government to take on manmade terrorist threats and naturally occurring pandemics, as well as chemical and radiological threats.
The public-private partnership - akin to the way the Defense Department buys fighter jets - could be a boon for the growing number of biotechnology companies.
But some of the new program's work also would be shielded from public scrutiny, which critics say could stymie necessary oversight and lend the false impression internationally that the United States is developing biological weapons.
The bill was shepherded through Congress by Sen. Richard M. Burr, a North Carolina Republican, who spent two years fending off critics and trying to shape a new program palpable to biotechnology companies and to Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt.
The law creates the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known as BARDA. Its director, reporting to Leavitt, would control the money to dole out for advanced research on a host of vaccines and countermeasures.
The money, $1.07 billion over two years, would be used to help biotechnology companies make the leap from initial research to ready-to-buy procurement - a gap known now as the 'Valley of Death.'
Biotech companies often have little incentive to forge ahead on products in biodefense, in which the federal government is the sole market, said Brad Smith, a senior associate at the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh.
'Drug development is an extremely high-risk process that can take years and years,' said Smith, who advised members of Congress on the bill. 'Building a partnership where government and industry share risks with each other makes a lot of sense.'
The new law has critics, though.
When the legislation was introduced in 2005, some scientists and advocacy groups were outraged that it would exempt the entire authority from the Freedom of Information Act. No other government agency has such a broad veil of secrecy.
The act signed into law yesterday contains a provision prohibiting disclosure of 'technical data or scientific information' that would reveal vulnerabilities of the nation's defenses that aren't publicly known. Defining that trigger is up to the secretary of health and human services.
Lynn C. Klotz, a former Harvard scientist and industry consultant, calls the new, more narrow language better, but still troublesome.
'I'm worried that too much of what they do would still remain secret. I don't think there's going to be much oversight,' said Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington.
He added that other countries could assume that the United States is doing nefarious work.
'It's the extreme secrecy which makes everybody suspicious of us,' Klotz said.
Burr, though, said it would be irresponsible to reveal any vulnerabilities to the nation's defenses.
Date Collected: 1/11/2007
Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.biodefense20dec20,0,3091807.story
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