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By Category: Agents & Toxins

Killer flu creators lash out at US ‘censorship’

(RT) Fouchier initially wanted to publish his research so as to prepare humanity for a potential outbreak of the artificially-made virus, but the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) got involved and asked him to withhold some …

January 18, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Paragon Bioservices Awarded Multi-Million Dollar DoD Contract for Filovirus …

(Sacramento Bee) There are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments against filoviruses, even though there is up to a 90% fatality rate in humans, which makes them a potential agent of bioterrorism. Paragon will develop a large-scale mammalian process that is …

January 18, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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Scientists Question Restrictions on Bird Flu Research

(Global Security Newswire) The decision by a U.S. biodefense advisory board to urge for the suppression of scientific research into the transmission of the avian flu virus will do more harm than good, scientists told the Chicago Tribune this week. The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity in December called on researchers at the Read More »

January 17, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, and Research
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Anthrax capsule vaccine protects monkeys from lethal infection

(EurekAlert) Vaccination with the anthrax capsule—a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease—protected monkeys from lethal anthrax infection, according to U.S. Army scientists. The study, which appears in the Jan. 20th print edition of the journal VACCINE, represents the first successful use of a non-toxin vaccine to protect monkeys from the disease.

January 13, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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Professor defends safety of UW’s bird flu research

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) The professor who oversees biosafety for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s controversial avian influenza research responded Monday to mounting criticism about the necessity and safety of the research, saying “ongoing research with H5N1 remains salient.” The research is “society’s best defense against a pathogen that has shown time and time again that, in Read More »