TweetA recent essay published in Forbes magazine supports the contention that the United States remains woefully unprepared, if not uninterested, in the chances that it will face an attack using biological weapons. James Glassman, a former undersecretary of state for … Read More

TweetU.S. attempts to create an aerosolized biological agent threat detection system are running behind schedule. Alexander Garza, the head of the Homeland Security Department’s office of health affairs, acknowledged the situation during a recently held hearing of the House Homeland … Read More

TweetWouter Basson has requested that his legal team open an investigation into a fake Twitter account carrying his name. According to the Rapport, Basson, the former head of South Africa’s apartheid goevernment’s chemical and biological warfare program, sees the account … Read More

TweetFuad El-Hibri launched Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., 14 years ago, focusing on several prominent disease areas and creating numerous clinical stage product development programs, as well  as an anthrax vaccine. The company turned a profit for an entire year within four … Read More

TweetFive people have now died in the Omaheke region of Namibia from an illness that is believed to be either anthrax or Congo fever. Initial test results proved to be inconclusive and new samples have since been sent to South … Read More

TweetRussian President-elect Vladimir Putin recently argued that Russia must be prepared for the use of future weapons systems, including those based on genetics, which will alter how states achieve their aims and protect themselves. Putin, writing as prime minister shortly … Read More

TweetA panel of experts on the 2001 anthrax mailings recently met at the University of Virginia this week to speak about the number of security gaps the attacks revealed and the errors in the ensuing investigation. David Willman, a journalist … Read More

TweetColumbia University legal scholar Phillip Bobbitt recently wrote an article arguing that it could be shown that Congress could have concluded that the individual mandate for healthcare would be justified by the need for biosecurity. Bobbitt said that the advance … Read More

TweetMembers of the Kansas congressional delegation said this week that the nation would benefit from a new animal disease testing center planned for the state, but the debate over funding for the facility continues. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kansas), whose district … Read More

TweetIndonesian prosecutors recently announced that a man accused of plotting to poison police officers with ricin faces seven years in jail. Ali Miftah, an herbal medicine seller whose real name is Amri Firmansyah, allegedly planned to help a group of … Read More

TweetMore than 300 postal carriers in Louisville, Kentucky, have volunteered to carry antibiotics to nearby residents in the case of an attack using an airborne biological agent. Louisville and Minneapolis-St. Paul were chosen to take the lead in a demonstration … Read More

TweetNew Zealand’s Christchurch Hospital recently opened a laboratory that will allow scientists to work with and contain infectious diseases. The laboratory is the first in the country with a PC3 biosafety designation. It operates under negative air pressure, which ensures … Read More

TweetFederal authorities have found no motive for why two elementary schools in York, Maine, recently received letters containing a white powder. The two schools were among several in New England that received the threatening mail. Local officials said that they … Read More

TweetVolunteers in San Mateo County, California, recently helped local first responders conduct an emergency drill that tested the county’s ability to distribute medication in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack. Approximately 65 volunteers split into several groups to … Read More

TweetA group of 111 organizations recently called for more oversight of synthetic biology activities, including the establishment of greater government regulation. The various watchdog, environmental and other groups released a report with specific recommendations to manage biological research that includes … Read More

TweetU.S. Army scientists recently demonstrated that antibody-based therapies are capable of protecting primates from the potential bioweapon Ebola and Marburg viruses. The animals were fully protected when the treatment was administered two days after the onset of infection. Ebola and … Read More

TweetA former student at the University of Texas allegedly stole multiple vials and plastic droppers from a UT laboratory, including a harmless strain of the bioterrorism agent ricin. Karl Jasheway was charged with driving while intoxicated on December 21. While … Read More

TweetAccording to an editorial by Tom Quaife of the Dairy Herd Network, the threat of agroterrorism should be taken much more seriously by members of Congress and the Obama administration. Quaife has attended four agroterrorism conferences sponsored by the Federal … Read More

TweetU.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) issued a statement on Thursday following the passage of a bipartisan bill by the United States Senate to improve the preparedness of the U.S. against terrorist attacks. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act Reauthorization of … Read More

TweetExperts are at odds this week when it came to what level of safety precautions should be used for research on H5N1 viruses that can spread in mammals. The experts recommending biosafety level 4, the highest security precautions, said that … Read More

TweetAccording to the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Syria has a “substantial” capability for biological and chemical weapons and an effort to scale back naval presence in the area could spell trouble. Marine General James Mattis, the head … Read More

TweetAccording to Debora MacKenzie, a consultant with New Scientist, despite new information by scientist Ron Fouchier about an experiment involving H5N1 bird flu, the virus is still deadlier than wild H5N1. After a National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity advised … Read More

TweetAccording to a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command, the construction of a high-level containment laboratory at Fort Detrick near Fredericksburg, Maryland, has been put on hold. The construction of the 492,000-square-foot Medical Countermeasure Test and … Read More

TweetAccording to a ruling party lawmaker, the defense ministry of South Korea has dispensed guidelines for responding to alleged bioterrorism threats posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The defense ministry sent out the 130 page guidelines on the … Read More

TweetJohn Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned on Thursday that the alliance between the Castro regime, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez could lead to the development of biological weapons. Bolton spoke before approximately a … Read More

TweetAccording to research from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute’s biosafety level-4 lab, two off-the-shelf cancer drugs stopped the Ebola virus from reproducing in a test tube. This early advance in the defense against the potential biological weapon is promising, given … Read More

TweetConnecticut State Police recently closed down the Superior Court Building in Meriden, Connecticut, after a white powder was reported to have been found near its front doors. Biohazard units and the major crimes squad of the state police were sent … Read More

TweetThe U.S. government is currently evaluating chemical detection devices developed by Chemring Detection Systems. Chemring, a North Carolina-based subsidiary of Britain’s Chemring Group PLC, recently announced that it has signed two contracts worth an estimated $500,000 with the U.S. Joint … Read More

TweetResearchers recently discovered how the botulinum neurotoxin, a deadly potential bioterror agent, can survive its passage through the hostile environment of the human stomach. Scientists from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and the Medical School of Hannover Germany revealed the … Read More

TweetNew York City-based Comedy Central hosts Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart received letters this week that contained language threatening biological attacks on United States senators. The messages, which were anti-Wall Street and anti-establishment in tone, warned that 10 out of … Read More