CBR Weapons and WMD Terrorism News- September 1, 2006

Lawsuit will demand Detrick study impact

“Residents who say the Army hasn't addressed legitimate concerns about a proposed biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick are planning to file a lawsuit, hoping the government will take a harder look at its consequences. The group hopes to replicate the recent success of Boston residents, who filed suit against groups building a high-containment laboratory.” (Detrick News-Post, 01Sep06, Alison Walker-Baird)
http://www.fredericknewspost.com
/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=51914

How Fast Could the County [Sedgwick County, Kansas] Get Medicine to 20,000 People?

“No anthrax attack, it was only a test. Jim Nasium, Justin Case and Anna Mull were among those in line for antibiotics for themselves and their families Thursday as Sedgwick County raced to protect people from an anthrax attack. It was all just pretend, of course, a way for the county health department to test its ability to distribute drugs in response to a mass emergency. Similar drills took place in several Kansas communities.
The ‘patients’ were anyone who happened to be handy, and the ‘antibiotics’
were Skittles and Smarties. The volunteer patients were given pretend names, family members and scenarios that sent them through the ‘fast’ or ‘slow’ lane -- medical conditions and drug allergies meant more assessment time to determine which medicine was appropriate. The goal of the drill was to figure out how long it would take to get medicine to 20,000 people, said Claudia Blackburn, the health department's director, and ‘to look at how to make it go faster.’” (Red Orbit; 01Sep06; Karen Shideler, The Wichita Eagle) http://www.redorbit.com
/news/science/641053/
how_fast_could_the_county_get_medicine_to_20000_people
/index.html?source=r_science

Threat Case Sentence Upheld: Mailing Led To Anthrax Scare

“A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a man sentenced to 30 years in prison for touching off an anthrax scare by mailing baby powder to a Connecticut state prosecutor. Noel Davila was convicted in 2005 on charges of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and delivering a threat through the U.S. mail three years earlier. His conviction was left intact Wednesday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected an argument by his lawyers that his envelope addressed to the state's attorney's office in Bridgeport, Conn., was not a reference to a specific person.” (courant.com, 31Aug06, AP) http://www.courant.com
/news/local/hc-ctapanthrax0831.artaug31,0,1667382.story?
coll=hc-headlines-local

[Idaho] Emergency personnel meet to discuss readiness for agro-terrorism strike

“Experts, officials, residents and would-be first responders met at the Sawtooth Inn on Wednesday to discuss the valley’s [Magic Valley] preparedness for a terrorist strike against its agriculture-based economy. Although considered highly unlikely, an introduction of foreign diseases into the cattle population could have far-reaching consequences, experts agree. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, discussed the impact such an outbreak could have on Idaho. ‘The entire food supply chain would be really shocked and shattered,’ he said. ‘That’s why early detection is so important.’”
(magicvalley.com, 31Aug06, Cassidy Friedman) http://www.magicvalley.com
/articles/2006/08/31/news_localstate
/news_local_state.5.txt

Defense lab site raises concerns

“Lynda Hayward lives in a trailer right next to Warren Drive near MU [University of Missouri] South Farm. East of Warren Drive is a green pasture where several horses quietly eat grass. At the south end of the street, it meets New Haven Road. Golden sunflowers stretch northward from the double-lane road. There is only rural life in South Farm, two miles southeast of Columbia. ‘There is nothing I want to change,’ said 63-year-old Hayward, an Oklahoma native who has lived in Columbia for 11 years. ‘I like overlooking the countryside. I can see the sunrise and sunset from my house. I can open my windows. I don’t want anything that’s going to make me sick.’ Hayward’s concern is that the 100 acres north of New Haven Road and east of Warren Drive has become the proposed site in Columbia for a new federal project: the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. Two residential areas are adjacent to the site. To the west there is Hayward’s home and tens of other trailers. Big Timber Drive, a curved drive just a little east of the site, is home to dozens of houses with mowed lawns.” (columbiamissourian.com, 31Aug06, Ji Xiang)
http://columbiamissourian.com
/news/story.php?ID=21299

[California] Legislature sends single-payer health care bill to governor

“California would become the only state to offer all its residents government-operated health care under a bill sent Thursday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, although it's unlikely the governor will sign it. The bill was among dozens lawmakers approved as they rushed to meet a midnight deadline before the end of the current legislative session. The Department of Health Services [under another health-related bill] would be split into two new agencies, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Health Care Services under a bill sent to Schwarzenegger on a 34-2 Senate vote. The Republican governor and Democratic legislative leaders agreed the state needs a separate public health agency to deal with threats such as the West Nile Virus, bird flu and bioterrorism. The bill, SB162, is authored by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento.” (Santa Maria Times, 31Aug06, Don Thompson) http://www.santamariatimes.com
/articles/2006/08/31/ap-state-ca/d8jrpklo0.txt


Emergent’s anthrax product wins NIH [National Institutes of Health] grant

“Emergent BioSolutions said Thursday the U.S. National Institutes of Health awarded it $3.8 million to develop its anthrax treatment. Emergent is developing an anthrax immune globulin compound intended to be used to treat patients after they've been exposed to anthrax. The funding, which runs through 2009 and comes from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is intended to support non-clinical studies to assess the tolerability, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of the compound. Some of the funding also is slated for the preparing documentation and applying for a NIAID Clinical Trial Implementation Cooperative Agreement.” (United Press International, 31Aug06) http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness
/view.php?StoryID=20060831-102448-5265r

U.S. plans tougher inspections at border: Airline passengers, shipping agents on hook to finance increased agricultural checks

“Calling Canada a potential conduit for bioterrorism, pests and disease, the U.S. government is boosting its northern border inspection muscle -- and making Canadian air travelers and commercial shippers foot the bill. In what it calls an "emergency action," the United States Department of Agriculture has served notice it will levy a per-trip surcharge on all air travelers and commercial cargo shippers from Canada, starting Nov. 24. The U.S. entry fee will range from $5 (U.S.) per air passenger to $488 per maritime vessel, with trucks paying $5.25 per crossing and railways $7.50 per car.” (The Globe and Mail, 01Sep06, Steven Chase) http://www.theglobeandmail.com
/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060901.wxborder01
/BNStory/Business/home

Generations later, U.S. destroys its mustard gas

“As Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan laid waste to Europe and Asia in World War II, the United States ramped up production of mustard gas to respond to any chemical attack. The Allies never used the weapons that inflicted so much suffering during World War I, but America kept them throughout the Cold War as a deterrent. Only this month has the United States started to destroy the deadly mustard gas now outlawed by international treaty. The Army facility incinerates it at the well-guarded desert complex, which was home to 45 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile before destruction began a decade ago. Eight other U.S. sites stored chemical weapons and are also destroying bombs, missiles, mines and other chemical munitions. At Deseret, 60 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, the weapons are buried below truncated pyramid-shaped mounds. Much of the round-the-clock process of removing explosive fuses, draining and then incinerating liquid chemical agents is automated. But workers in fully enclosed protective chemical suits regularly enter potentially deadly areas to repair, update and clean.” (Yahoo! News; 31Aug06; Adam Tanner, Reuters)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm
/20060831/us_nm/usa_arms_chemical_dc

U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency destroys half of total number of munitions in national stockpile

“The U.S. Army announced today the destruction of 50 percent of the number of munitions in its declared chemical stockpile. This achievement demonstrates the United States’ commitment to its international obligations as a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). When the United States ratified the CWC in 1997, they agreed to stop producing, stockpiling or transferring chemical weapons.” (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, 30Aug06)
http://www.cma.army.mil
/docviewerframe.aspx?docid=003675943

Prosecutor Confident of Genocide Case Against Saddam

“Jiyan Aziz is one of the Kurdish prosecutors in the case against Saddam and six of his former military commanders for crimes against humanity during the Anfal campaign in the 1980s.~She is confident the prosecution team will be able to prove the accused ordered the killing of more than 180,000 Kurds, many of them women and children, the eradication of thousands of Kurdish villages and the use of chemical weapons on civilian populations.~To make their case, she says, they will enter as evidence remains from mass graves, testimony of survivors, and official Iraqi government documents ordering the killings.~The defense says the operation was aimed at wiping out Kurdish separatist guerillas, known as Peshmerga, who sided with Iran in its war with Iraq.
Aziz does not believe that argument will hold up.” (Voice of America, 31Aug06, Brian Padden) http://www.voanews.com
/english/2006-08-31-voa52.cfm

Opposition boycotts Parliament, Sharif asks lawmakers to quit

“Stepping up pressure on Pakistan government over the killing of Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, opposition parties today boycotted Parliament and announced a sit-in in front of the house during their national strike tomorrow. Former premier Nawaz Sharif asked Opposition to consider resigning enmasse from Parliament and appealed to Pakistanis to wholeheartedly support the call for general strike tomorrow against the army's killing of Bugti on Aug 26. Another opposition lawmaker Abdul Rauf Mengal said that Bugti was targeted and alleged that chemical weapons were used in the operation that killed him.” (ZeeNews.com, 31Aug06) http://www.zeenews.com
/znnew/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=319356&sid=SAS

The Islamic Republic of the Comoros Ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention

“The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 18 August 2006. Thirty days after that date, on 17 September 2006, the Comoros will become the 179th State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Convention now covers 98% of the global population.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 31Aug06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR49_2006.html

Latin American and Caribbean Customs Authorities Meet in Peru

“The Government of Peru and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) organised a technical meeting of National Authorities in Latin America and The Caribbean on the practical aspects of the transfer regime. The meeting was held in Lima, Peru on 28 and 29 August 2006 and was attended by 68 representatives from eighteen OPCW Member States, including Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Representatives of the European Council of Chemical Industry, the World Customs Organisation, the European Union and an expert from the Network of Legal Experts, contributed to the deliberations. This meeting focused on custom procedures which are crucial in implementing the CWC at the national level.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 01Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org/pressreleases
/2006/PR50_2006.html

Group says U.S. unprepared for dirty bomb

“The organization Physicians for Social Responsibility says the United States health system is woefully unprepared for radiological disaster or attack. The group evaluated three possible nuclear terrorism scenarios -- a weapons blast in lower Manhattan, an attack on a nuclear power plant near Chicago, and the detonation of a ‘dirty’ or radiological bomb near the White House in Washington, D.C. ‘We found that the U.S. government lacks a workable plan to respond to the likely medical needs. Thousands of American civilians injured by a nuclear terrorist attack could survive with better preparedness,’ said Dr. Ira Helfland, an author of the PSR report, ‘The U.S. and Nuclear Terrorism: Still Dangerously Unprepared.’”
(United Press International, 31Aug06)
http://www.upi.com
/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID
=20060831-061504-9300r

Report ‘highlights nuclear risk’

“A report warning of the risks of nuclear proliferation if Australia develops a uranium enrichment industry highlights why the government must not continue down the nuclear path, says Greenpeace. In a paper released today, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said creating an Australian uranium enrichment industry would speed up development of nuclear weapons and could encourage regional nations to follow. Greenpeace today said the report confirmed that increasing flows of nuclear materials raised the risk of terrorists or governments using them to make nuclear weapons. ‘We can't have a debate about nuclear power and uranium without examining the direct links with nuclear weapons, rogue states and terrorism,’ Greenpeace CEO Steve Shallhorn said.” (The Australian, 31Aug06) http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
/story/0,20867,20316908-29277,00.html

First Responders’ Preparation for WMD Attack Still Lagging

“America's first line of defense in any terrorist attack is the ‘first responder’ community -- local police, firefighters, and emergency medical professionals. Properly trained and equipped first responders have the greatest potential to save lives and limit casualties after a terrorist attack. Currently, capabilities for responding to a terrorist attack vary widely across the country. Many areas have little or no capability to respond to terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction. Even the best prepared states and localities do not possess adequate resources to respond to the full range of terrorist threats we face.” (The National Ledger, 31Aug06, Jim Kouri) http://www.nationalledger.com
/artman/publish/article_27268083.shtml

Preparing for toxic emergencies

“Members of the new unit [in Florida], which went into service in July, put on a demonstration this month for the news media to show how they would respond to a real chemical crisis. If it had been the real thing, team members would have cut the victim's clothes off and doused him with soap and water to decontaminate him before administering the right antidote for the exposure, said team technician Cathy Racow. While the HazMat team has long responded to dangerous chemical situations, they haven't had the capability of caring and transporting patients who have been exposed and contaminated by toxic agents at the scene, Racow said.”
(Gainesville.com, 31Aug06, Deborah Ball)
http://www.gainesville.com
/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
/20060831/LOCAL/208310343/1078/news