Recent News

By Region: North America

The Anthrax Attacks 10 Years Later

(Annals of Internal Medicine) Through use of the US postal service, anthrax spores were widely disseminated, including to homes, the Senate, and major newsrooms, resulting in morbidity and mortality and effectively disrupting our way of life and revealing our vulnerability. …

October 5, 2011
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, and Policy & Initiatives
Share

Ten Years After Anthrax Attacks, Public Health Laboratory System Eroding due …

(MarketWatch) SILVER SPRING, MD — On the tenth anniversary of the anthrax attacks that followed 9/11, the US laboratory network that tested over 125000 samples for the deadly bacterium is eroding. Proud of the thorough and …

October 5, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Public Health
Share

For widow, anthrax victim’s fate still ‘open wound’

(Palm Beach Post) Bob Stevens, a 63-year-old Florida man shown in an undated employee ID photo, died Friday, Oct. 5, 2001, after he failed to respond to antibiotics for an inhaled form of anthrax. Stevens is the first anthrax death in the United States in 25 …

October 4, 2011
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, and Public Health
Share

APHIS Proposed Rules

(Federal Register) SUMMARY: In accordance with the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002, we are proposing to amend and republish the list of select agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. The Act requires the biennial review and republication Read More »

October 4, 2011
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
Share

Nearly 400 Accidents with Dangerous Pathogens and Biotoxins Reported in US

(Scientific American) Select agent” is government-speak for a biological agent or toxin that is considered to pose “a severe threat” to human, animal or plant health—or livestock and agricultural products. Special approval from the government is required to handle these …