Weapons /Terrorism News- October 2, 2006

Inmate allegedly threatens U.S. attorney: Man faces life sentence for letter that reportedly contained white powder

“A person sentenced recently to 77 months in prison for stabbing another inmate at Pekin's federal prison [in Illinois] now faces additional charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. [The man]…sent an assistant U.S. attorney a letter in which he threatened to get her family and stated he had put anthrax in the letter, according to court records.” (Peoria Journal Star, 02Oct06, Andy Kravetz)
http://www.pjstar.com
/stories/100206/TRI_BB4CS852.065.shtml

PTC Therapeutics Announces $17.2 Million Award From the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency

“PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTC), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of orally administered, proprietary small-molecule drugs that target post-transcriptional control processes, today announced that it has received a $17.2 million award from the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for the discovery and development of broad-spectrum small-molecule antibacterials that may be applicable against biowarfare or bioterrorism agents.” (Yahoo! Finance, 02Oct06, PRNewswire)
http://biz.yahoo.com
/prnews/061002/nym058.html?.v=62

Anthrax Dispute Suggests Bioshield Woes

“By now, millions of anthrax vaccine shots developed through cutting-edge genetic engineering were supposed to be filling a new national stockpile of biodefense drugs. Instead, five years after anthrax attacks left five dead, sickened 17 and panicked the country, the nearly $1 billion contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to a tiny and struggling San Francisco Bay Area biotechnology company is plagued with misfortune and delays. Delivery has been put off until at least 2008--and maybe later--while the government and VaxGen Inc. trade barbs over who is at fault. The dispute has further tarnished Project Bioshield, a government program that has alienated many potential biodefense contractors.” (Washington Post; 01Oct06; Paul Elias, AP) http://www.washingtonpost.com
/wp-dyn/content/article/2006
/09/30/AR2006093001439_pf.html

Center provides vaccinations as practice for emergency situations

“It's time for flu shots again, and the Flint Hills Community Health Center [in Kansas] is taking the opportunity to not only offer the flu shot but to train their employees for a mass vaccination. The clinic is an exercise to train staff and volunteers to vaccinate large numbers of people in the community in response to a natural disease outbreak or bioterrorism emergency. ‘This exercise will allow us to see where we need to improve to enable us to better respond in an emergency. In addition to testing our process of immunizing a large number of people quickly, we will also be providing actual flu shots to participants, just in time for flu season’ said Lougene Marsh, executive director of the health center.”
(49abcnews.com, 01Oct06, Jana Corrie)
http://www.49abcnews.com
/news/2006/oct/01/center_
provides_vaccinations_practi
ce_emergency_si/

Alnylam secures $23 million for biodefense

“Alnylam Pharmaceuticals inc. has secured a $23 million federal contract to develop new biodefense treatments. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company announced on Thursday that a division of the National Institutes of Health awarded the four-year contract toward the development of treatments to fight hemorrhagic fever viruses including the Ebola virus.”
(Boston Business Journal, 28Sep06)
http://boston.bizjournals.com
/boston/stories/2006/09/25/
daily39.html

RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] probe anthrax scare at oil and gas company

“RCMP were investigating an anthrax scare at an oil and gas company in northern Alberta yesterday. Television station CFRN reported that 12 workers subcontracted to Talisman Energy Inc. had been put under quarantine after an electrician opened up a box of screws and found white powder and a note reading: ‘Welcome to Anthrax.’” (Guelph Mercury, 02Oct06)
http://www.guelphmercury.com
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Pentagon bill includes Pueblo depot

“A $436.6 billion funding measure for the Defense Department includes money for several Colorado projects, including continued work toward cleaning up chemical weapons at the Pueblo Army Depot. The Pueblo facility will receive $87 million to study possible ways to destroy the chemicals in place. They are too dangerous to move, said Laura Condeluci, spokeswoman for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The funding bill, which passed Congress on Thursday, also includes $20 million nationwide for military-base buffer-zone projects, land purchased at the edges of bases to provide space between the military facilities and surrounding communities.”
(Denver Post, 30Sep06, Anne C. Mulkern)
http://www.denverpost.com
/portlet/article/html/fragment
s/print_article.jsp?article=4421696

Military is asked to prepare land givebacks

“U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie [of Hawaii] has asked the military to plan for the eventual return of Makua Valley and a portion of the old Navy air station at Kalaeloa… The two requests were part of the 2007 Defense Authorization bill that passed the U.S. House and Senate yesterday. Abercrombie also said the defense spending bill requires the military to identify and assess the risk caused by the dumping of unexploded and chemical weapons off the Leeward Coast in the 1940s. ‘The language requires the Department of Defense to identify, survey, analyze and report on at least two dump locations near Hawaii so we can understand the potential risks and what it will take to clean them up,’ he said.
Abercrombie's office said $2.4 million had been requested in a companion bill for the Army, the University of Hawaii and Hawaii businesses to conduct the study.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, 30Sep06, Gregg K. Kakesako) http://starbulletin.com
/2006/09/30/news/stor
y04.html

Sea Shells; Deadly Harvest of Munitions is Washed Up on Scotland’s Beaches

“ROYAL Navy bomb disposal experts are being called out daily to detonate unexploded bombs, mines and shells washed up on Scotland's beaches. The Ministry of Defence estimates almost 2,000 potentially lethal explosive devices are washed ashore each year. Most of the ammunition comes from large undersea dumps around the coast and has now deteriorated to the stage where it is exploding spontaneously, scattering high explosives and chemicals across the seabed. Scotland's biggest munitions dump, a trench called Beaufort's Dyke off the southwest coast, has been described as 'a great witches' brew' of chemicals and munitions. The MoD records show it contains nearly 2 million tons of conventional munitions, 120,000 tons of mustard and phosgene gas, 25,000 tons of nerve gas, 330 tons of arsenic compound and 1,890 tons of waste gases.” (Red Orbit, 01Oct06, Vic Rodrick)
http://www.redorbit.com
/news/science/676870/sea_shells
__deadly_harvest_of_munitions_
is_washed_up/index.html?source=r_science

Congress Delivers Essential Chemical Security Legislation in Final Inning

“The House and Senate just approved the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, HR. 5441, which contains language authorizing the Department to regulate security at chemical facilities.” (Yahoo! Finance, 02Oct06, PRNewswire)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews
/061002/dcm018.html?.v=68

FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] Approves Treatment for Nerve-Poisoning Agents for Use by Trained Emergency Medical Services Personnel

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Duodote (atropine and pralidoxime chloride injection) for use by trained emergency medical services personnel to treat civilians exposed to life-threatening organophosphorus-containing nerve agents, such as sarin, and insecticides. ~Duodote is manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies, Inc., Columbia, Md. FDA previously approved atropine and pralidoxime chloride injection under the name Antidote Treatment--Nerve Agent Auto-Injector (ATNAA) for military use.”~ (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 29Sep06)
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/t
opics/NEWS/2006/NEW01473.html

University of Utah gets grant to fight ‘dirty bombs’

“The University of Utah will receive $665,000 to help find drugs to eliminate or reduce health effects of a radioactive or nuclear ‘dirty bomb’ attack. The U. [University of Utah] already has patents on several series of drugs shown to be effective against nuclear exposure, said Scott Miller, professor of radiology and nuclear engineering at the U. and principal investigator. He said…[the grant] would be used to take the drugs they've developed and ‘move them toward the FDA approval pathway.’”
(Deseret News, 02Oct06, Lois M. Collins)
http://deseretnews.com
/dn/view/0,1249,650195462,00.html

Mexican man sentenced to 3 years in Boston terror hoax

“A Mexican man who hoaxed U.S. officials in 2005 by inventing a plot by Chinese nationals to release a ‘dirty bomb’ in Boston was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison. Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinonez, 34, pleaded guilty in May to one count of passing on false information about a terror attack to federal officials.” (San Diego Union Tribune, 29Sep06, AP) http://www.signonsandiego.com
/news/mexico/20060929-153
1-ca-terrorhoax.html

DOR BioPharma Awarded Two Grants Totaling $5.3 Million to Advance Ricin toxin and Botulinum Toxin Vaccine Programs

“DOR BioPharma, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded two additional grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) totaling approximately $5.3 million to support the development of its biodefense vaccine programs. One grant of approximately $4.8 million was awarded for the continued development of RiVax(TM), a recombinant vaccine against ricin toxin. The second grant of approximately $0.5 million has been awarded to continue additional research on the development of BT-VACC(TM), a multivalent mucosal vaccine against botulinum toxin.” (Genetic Engineering News, 29Sep06)
http://www.genengnews.com
/news/bnitem.aspx?name=6245136

Port security bill clears Congress, heads to president

“In its last major action before beginning its midterm election recess, Congress early Saturday morning approved a $3.4 billion maritime security bill that some lawmakers say will eventually lead to all cargo being scanned at foreign ports before being put on ships bound for the United States. The House approved the bill, 409-2, while the Senate passed it on a voice vote. ‘This legislation takes immediate action to heighten the security of our nation's seaports, which could be exploited by terrorists for delivering weapons of mass destruction to the United States,’ said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota…” (GovExec.com; 02Oct07; Chris Strohm, Congress Daily)
http://www.govexec.com/s
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