Recent News

By Region: North America

FEMA Trained 93,500 Emergency Responders on WMD Readiness in 2011

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Center for Domestic Preparedness in 2011 helped prepare 93,500 state and jurisdictional emergency personnel in averting and managing the aftermath of a terrorist strike incorporating chemical , biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive substances, the Homeland Security Department said. Separately, the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and Read More »

January 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Using microbes to fight microbes

(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) There are more microorganisms in and on our bodies than human cells. In fact, scientists estimate that microorganisms outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. These microbes cover our skin, nose, mouth, and gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts. Called the “human microbiome,” scientists are investigating the relationship between these microbes and Read More »

January 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Science and Security Clash on Bird-Flu Papers

(Chronicle of Higher Education) Even within the board, the episode has brought to the surface worries that existing biosafety committees at academic institutions are not qualified to evaluate this kind of risk, and that the work is not being sufficiently evaluated until it nears …

January 5, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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BUSM researchers identify novel compound to halt virus replication

(Boston University Medical Center) A team of scientists from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a novel compound that inhibits viruses from replicating. The findings, which are published online in the Journal of Virology, could lead to the development of highly targeted compounds to block the replication of poxviruses, such as the emerging Read More »

January 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Research
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Laws Target People With HIV: AIDS Patient’s Spit Deemed Deadly Weapon

(Huffington Post) In Michigan, an HIV-positive man who allegedly bit a neighbor during an argument faced a bioterrorism charge. Charges for the same acts would have been far less severe if the defendants had been virus-free. Now, a coalition of advocacy groups – backed …