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By Category: Policy & Initiatives

Sandia Designs Border Security Training Game

The Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico has developed a video game to aid U.S. border security efforts, including the prevention of smuggling of weapons of mass destruction into the United States, KOAT television reported on Monday (see GSN, Dec. 8, 2009). “We’re concerned about people trying to smuggle nuclear, chemical and biological weapons across Read More »

April 14, 2011
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, and Policy & Initiatives
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Surveillance at the genetic level: Is it possible? – GCN.com

DARPA is specifically interested in transdiscipline teams with expertise in mathematical disciplines associated with encryption, epigenetics and epigenetic control, genetic control elements, and synthetic biology,” the agency noted in its workshop…

April 14, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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Information sharing seen as public health “game changer”

Public health officials are pushing for the creation of shared databases that contain electronic health records (EHRs) to help combat infectious diseases and stop epidemics; a CDC official pointed to the positive impact that electronic health information exchanges (HIE) have on public health; during the 2003 SARS outbreak, Milwaukee helped establish a four-state network that Read More »

April 13, 2011
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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BWC Review Conference Chairman Aims to Bolster Treaty Regime

WASHINGTON — The Biological Weapons Convention review conference this year should look at ways to strengthen the international prohibition against the offensive use of disease materials, according to the chairman of the upcoming meeting

April 13, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Federal Food Safety Agencies Spared Major Cuts

Key food safety agencies will likely escape major budget cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year, according to new details released by Congressional appropriators.Though lawmakers reached an historic agreement late last Friday to avoid federal government shutdown up against an expiring stop-gap budget measure, the details of the roughly $38 billion in cuts in Read More »