Recent News

By Category: Policy & Initiatives

Col. Randall Larsen: Words Matter

Proper pronunciation is not a likely topic for a blog on biosecurity, particularly when written by someone who has great difficulty pronouncing the word “nuclear”. (I blame that on spending too much time in Texas.) However, it never ceases to amaze me how many people mispronounce the name of the Secretary of Homeland Security. Not Read More »

February 7, 2011
| Filed under North America and Policy & Initiatives
Share

Issues in Biosecurity and Biosafety

Related Articles Issues in biosecurity and biosafety. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2010 Aug 7; Authors: Nordmann BD The role of non-governmental organisations and other interested observers – civil society – has long been neglected by governments in the quest for a world secure from the threat of biological weapons or bioterrorism. New trends illustrate a Read More »

January 28, 2011
| Filed under North America and Policy & Initiatives
Share

Pentagon Funds Work on Faster Disease Countermeasure Development

The U.S. Defense Department has awarded $5.6 million for work toward a capability to develop disease treatments within one week (see GSN, Nov. 3, 2010). The project could ultimately yield countermeasures useful in responding to “known, unknown, naturally occurring or engineered disease-causing pathogens,” according to a press release from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which is Read More »

January 20, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
Share

More Talk, Better Security: The Need For Wider Debate On Strengthening The BWC

BY MALCOLM DANDO–There is an old joke that always makes me smile. It goes something like this: A visitor to Ireland was in Cork and needed to get to Dublin quickly, so he asked a local what the best way to drive was. The answer came back after a short pause for thought: “If I Read More »

January 18, 2011
| Filed under International and Policy & Initiatives
Share

$1b Effort Yields No Bioterror Defenses

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is scaling back one of its largest efforts to develop treatments for troops and civilians infected in a germ warfare attack after a $1 billion, five-year program fell short of its primary goal. Instead, the Pentagon’s next $1 billion for the Transformational Medical Technologies program will focus on better ways to Read More »