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By Region: North America

WHO offers some guidance on risky H5N1 studies

(CIDRAP) The World Health Organization (WHO) has offered some brief, general guidance on safety and security in research on laboratory-modified H5N1 viruses, mainly stressing that researchers should follow existing guidelines and gain authorization from their governments. The one-page guidance document, posted recently on the WHO Web site, was prompted by the recent controversy over the Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Public Health, and Research
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Insight: Assad chemical weapons plans blocked by Moscow

(Reuters) – Increasingly under pressure by rebels intent on unseating him, Bashar al-Assad has considered using chemical weapons against his enemies but Washington and Moscow have formed an unlikely alliance to force him to abandon such plans. Analysts and diplomats across the region and beyond do not doubt that the Assad government, recoiling from a Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, and International
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Syrian army bombards Aleppo as rebels attempt to ‘liberate’ Old City

(The National) BEIRUT // Rebels fought regime forces at the gates of Aleppo’s ancient Old City yesterday in a battle for control of Syria’s commercial hub. Residents and opposition activists said the army was bombarding several quarters of Aleppo with artillery and mortars as helicopter gunships flew overhead. Troops and rebels clashed in Bab Al Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Middle East, North America, and Biological Weapons
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UN, OIE call for more controls on rinderpest virus

(AFP) ROME — The UN’s food agency and the OIE called on countries on Monday to comply with a 2011 global moratorium and destroy potentially dangerous rinderpest virus samples or put them into safe storage. The deadly animal virus, which caused cattle plague, was the second viral disease in history to be wiped out after Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, and Policy & Initiatives
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How Do You Really Dispose of Ricin?

(Slate Magazine) In an early scene of Sunday night’s Breaking Bad, Jesse Pinkman freaks out over a lost cigarette containing a tiny vial of ricin, a poison made from castor beans that can kill you if ingested. Once Jesse thinks he’s found the vial, Walter White pretends to dispose of it by flushing it down Read More »