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By Region: North America

Army Touts New System for Identifying Biological Materials

The U.S. Army on Monday said its Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland has produced a system for rapid determination of potentially dangerous disease materials (see GSN, Nov. 24, 2010). “Remember today, July 14, 2011. You are experiencing the beginning of a revolution,” according to provided remarks from David Chiang, chief executive officer for Sage-N Read More »

July 20, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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New Documents Cast Doubt on Federal Anthrax Case

(PBS Frontline) WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI’s case against Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized Congress a decade ago. Shortly after Ivins committed suicide in 2008, federal investigators announced that they had identified him Read More »

July 19, 2011
| Filed under North America and Bioterrorism
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Anthrax Mailing Suspect’s Lab Lacked Spore-Drying Gear

The airtight “hot suite” in the laboratory of the final suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings lacked systems capable of freeze-drying fluid anthrax samples into dry spores of the type used in the attacks, the U.S. Justice Department said in court documents filed on Friday (see GSN, May 20). Hazardous materials experts decontaminate one another Read More »

July 19, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Bioterrorism, and Research
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Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense Updated

(First Science News) Apart from the dark shadow of a mushroom cloud rising above a decimated city there are few threats which have captured the public imagination more than the prospect of bioterrorism. Yet, ten years since the declaration of the ‘war on terror’ how much of a threat do bioterrorist attacks represent and how Read More »

July 18, 2011
| Filed under North America and Biotechnology
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WHO Says World Better Prepare for Next Influenza Pandemic

(VOA News) The World Health Organization says the world is better prepared for the next influenza pandemic than it was in the past. More than 100 public health experts have wrapped up a three-day meeting in Geneva to review a Global Action Plan for Influenza Vaccines that was developed in 2006, and to develop a Read More »