Recent News

By Category: Countermeasures

House investigators seek BioWatch documents

(LosAngelesTimes) Leaders of a House committee probing BioWatch, the nation’s troubled system for detecting biological attacks, complained Thursday that administration officials had blocked them from seeing documents held by two senior federal scientists known to have been privately skeptical of the nationwide program. The materials are of particular interest to congressional investigators, in part because Read More »

February 1, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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New Way to Test Airborne Pathogen Sensors Slated for BioWatch Program

(National Defense Magazine) The test and evaluation community for the past 70 years has used one method to find out whether sensors designed to detect weaponized pathogens work as advertised. It is not a simple task. One can’t walk out into a field and release live anthrax spores into the air. That would obviously endanger Read More »

January 17, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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FDA approves raxibacumab to treat inhalational anthrax

(FDA) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved raxibacumab injection to treat inhalational anthrax, a form of the infectious disease caused by breathing in the spores of the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Raxibacumab also is approved to prevent inhalational anthrax when alternative therapies are not available or not appropriate. Raxibacumab is a monoclonal antibody that Read More »

December 17, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Public Health
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Preparing for bioterrorism

(EurekAlert) A new book, Preparing for Bioterrorism, written by Gigi Kwik Gronvall and published by the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC, tells the story of some of the important biosecurity projects funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and how they left the nation better prepared to deal with bioterrorism. Each project is its own Read More »

December 13, 2012
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, and Research
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Bag BioWatch because of its bugs? Bad idea

(LA Times) BioWatch, the Homeland Security-led effort to provide early warning if biological pathogens are released against the American people, has fallen into disfavor in some corners. The Times produced a series of highly critical articles, and the editorial board has chimed in, suggesting that the program be “squashed.” But calls to bag BioWatch, while Read More »