Scientists in private sector and university labs are attempting to create vaccines for biological warfare agents before attacks can be perpetrated or big industries can whisk away funding opportunities for research and development. Read More

United States and South Korean officials began collecting groundwater samples this week near a U.S. army base in the south of Korea to test for the toxic defoliant Agent Orange. Read More

Bangladesh’s health minister and resource minister have announced that the country’s recent anthrax outbreak is under control. Read More

Two residents of a farmstead in Russia’s North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan have contracted anthrax, officials have announced. Read More

The human toll from an anthrax outbreak in Bangladesh continues to grow, with 12 more infections reported in Pabna and Sirajganj pushing the total number of infections to 120. Read More

A research team from the J. Craig Venter Institute and the Institute of Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine has published the sequence and analysis of the castor bean, which is the source of the potential bioweapon ricin. Read More

One million doses of the smallpox vaccine IMVAMUNE have been delivered to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile for use in the event of a smallpox bioterrorism attack on the U.S. Read More

Several businesses in Lakewood, N.J., were evacuated on Monday following the reception of a threatening letter and a suspicious powder. Read More

Documents recently released by the U.S. Army Institute of Infectious Diseases show that 57 incidents, ranging from slips on wet floors to animal bites, occurred at its Fort Detrick biodefense laboratory in Maryland, according to reports released by the Fr Read More

While the Patriot Act and Bioterrorism Preparedness Act made it more difficult for anyone to obtain pathogens needed to launch a bioterror attack, the acts also had a few unintentional drawbacks, according to a study released this week in the Proceedings Read More

Now that several safety issues have been resolved at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, a trial burn of mustard agent chemical weapons has begun, the Tri-City (Wash.) Herald reports. Read More

The role of the Environmental Protection Agency in the BioWatch program has been significantly reduced by the agency’s Office of Inspector General following a recent review. Read More

A 10-count indictment has been handed down to a transient from Roseville and San Francisco accused of mailing anthrax hoax letters to federal offices. Read More

A lawsuit has been settled by state and Defense Department agencies stemming on how the Army’s stockpile of chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colorado are monitored. Read More

A panel of experts told congressional staff members last week that the only means of protecting the United States from a biological attack is to institute prevention and response measures globally. Read More

NanoInk, Inc., has announced that its NanoFabrication Systems Division instruments have been proven to support functionalizing biosensors with applications for biodefense. Read More

Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general, warned the Joint Staff Senior Leaders at Fort Leonard Wood that “if you can make good beer, you can make low stability, poorly weaponized nerve agent or mustard agent.” Read More

Army investigators have recommended laboratory safety procedures at Fort Detrick be reviewed after finding lapses following the infection of a biodefense worker with tularemia. Read More

One-and-a-half years after the dedication of the new Homeland Security lab at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, researchers have still not been able to move into the building. Read More

A senior U.S. defense official has announced that funding to protect the nation against CBRN attacks will be sharply increased, AFP reports. Read More

A worker at Oregon’s Umatilla Depot working to prep chemical weapons for destruction was injured recently by a mustard agent. Read More

Questions have been raised by experts in the field of health policy and preparedness about the anthrax outbreaks in Europe that have led to 12 deaths and multiple infections. Read More

Two more heroin addicts in Scotland are being treated for anthrax infections as part of an outbreak that has killed 10 drug users nationwide. Read More

Congress has been advised by the American Water Works Association that any new chemical security legislation needs to reflect local water experts’ needs to make key treatment decisions. Read More

Human Genome Sciences Inc., which is developing an inhalational anthrax treatment, has announced this week that Chief Financial Officer Timothy Barabe is resigning. Read More

A Denver man suspected of mailing white powder to Colorado and Alabama senators and representatives has been arrested by the FBI. Read More

Researchers at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center in Springfield, Missouri have announced advances in their project to create sensors that can detect anthrax, ricin and E. coli. Read More

India’s Defense Minister and President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Shri AK Antony, called for an end of war to settle disputes, the destruction of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and a call to fight terrorism. Read More

A draft of the Pentagon’s new strategic outlook calls for the preparation for numerous conflicts in many styles, a radical departure from the normal shaping of the U.S. military to fight two major conventional wars simultaneously. Read More

The ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee has weighed in on President Barack Obama’s announcement during his State of the Union Address of a new initiative to fight bioterrorism. Read More