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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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

(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...

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....

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 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...

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...

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...

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' 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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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"...

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 - 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...