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By Category: Policy & Initiatives

A Bird Flu Death in China. What it Means — and Doesn’t Mean

(Time) Science and news cycles sometimes converge in unhandy ways. That was the case on on January 1, when word came out of Shenzen, a Chinese city bordering Hong Kong, that a 39-year-old bus driver, surnamed Chen, had died of the H5N1 (or bird flu) virus. The deeply personal tragedy for Chen and his family Read More »

January 3, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Flu research and biological warfare A deadly balance

(The Economist) After the anthrax attacks of 2001, America created the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to advise the health department. Until now the body has exercised a light touch. For example, it did not flinch when, in 2005, researchers at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Maryland reconstructed the Spanish flu Read More »

January 3, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Britain on guard against Olympic bio-terror

(The Australian Eye) Five hundred health workers have been vaccinated against smallpox enabling them to deal with any biological terror attack at this year’s Olympics. The move highlights the level of concern within Whitehall over the …

January 2, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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Bioterrorist Battles

(Scientist) In 2001, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies coordinated a 2-day terrorist attack simulation using the smallpox virus, called “Dark …

January 2, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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How to Do Research on Deadly Flu Germs Without Helping Terrorists: View

(Bloomberg) Biomedical research projects that have the potential to be exploited for bioterrorism should be evaluated before they begin. The National Institutes of Health needs a system for doing that. Such a review process was recommended eight years ago by a …