Recent News

By Region: North America

Sugar-coated terrorism: Swiss chocolate inspections by US leave sour taste

(RT) Chocolatiers in Switzerland are infuriated by US inspections on their universally-loved confectionary for bioterrorism or radioactive threats. Factories have no choice but allow checks; otherwise will they be banned from the profitable US market. At least 21 Swiss chocolate factories and 18 dairies are obliged to allow inspections of their work until September 20, Read More »

September 10, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, Bioterrorism, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Ebola outbreak kills 15 in eastern Congo

(CBS News) An outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed 15 people in northeastern Congo and the local communities are quickly learning how frighteningly deadly the disease is, and how to prevent its spread. “Ebola entered my house and I did not know what it was,” said Gabriel Libina Alandato, who survived the hemorrhagic fever. Read More »

September 10, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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BioWatch upgrade apparently postponed

(Los Angeles Times) Amid concerns about cost and reliability, the federal Department of Homeland Security has quietly postponed plans to buy technology that officials have long claimed could provide a life-saving upgrade of BioWatch, the nation’s system for detecting biological attacks. One year ago, the department had said a contract for the new, automated system Read More »

September 10, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Public Health
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MBTA and Department of Homeland Security run bioterrorism tests in Cambridge subways

(Wicked Local) At around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, Anne Hultgren deployed the bacteria. A thick white fog filled the air at the MBTA’s Davis Square T station, rising slowly at first and then spreading quickly with the whoosh of a train sucking dirt and dead microbes down the platform. Less than 20 minutes after the Read More »

September 7, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, and Research
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Researchers sequence genome of malaria-causing parasite

(EurekAlert) Scientists at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have discovered that the parasite that causes the most common form of malaria share the same genetic variations – even when the organisms are separated across continents. The discovery raises concerns that mutations to resist existing medications could spread worldwide, making Read More »