Recent News

By Region: North America

NIH responds to criticism over handling of flu papers

(Nature.com) The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) today released a response to a sharply worded internal criticism about the handling of two controversial H5N1 avian influenza papers, one of which was published in Nature yesterday. The criticism came from Michael Osterholm, a public-health researcher and member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity Read More »

May 7, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Behold The Forbidden Flu: A Loom Explainer

(Discover Magazine) Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a very important part of a very special flu virus. It may look like an ordinary protein, but in fact it’s been at the center of a blazing debate about whether our increasing power to experiment on life could lead to a disaster. Not that long ago, Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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National Biosecurity Training Program Participation Exceeds Expectations

(Farmscape Online) The Canadian Swine Health Board’s biosecurity coordinator for Manitoba reports participation among the province’s pork producers in the National Biosecurity Training Program has exceeded all expectations. The National Biosecurity Training Program is based on the Canadian Swine Health Board’s National Biosecurity Standard and was developed to familiarize Canada’s pork producers with the principles Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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Trial of Boston Bioscanners to Use Live Bacteria

(Global Security Newswire) Authorities intend to disperse active bacteria into Boston subway passageways in a mid-2012 assessment of scanners designed to spot such biological material, My Fox Boston reported on Tuesday. Multiple train stops overseen by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority have already received the scanners deployed to provide warning of a potential biological terror strike.

May 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, and Research
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Lab Accident at San Francisco VA Leaves Man Dead of Bacterial Meningitis

(KQED News) A young lab assistant at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco died on Saturday after becoming infected with a deadly strain of bacterial meningitis that he had been working with in the lab. Officials at the VA wouldn’t release the man’s name, but said he was 25 years old and had been Read More »