• Investing in biodefense companies

    Billions of dollars are pouring into biodefense vaccines and treatments; do companies engaged in developing such vaccines and treatment offer attractive investment opportunities? The answer is a qualified “Yes” to this specific question — but a more resounding “Yes” when these companies’ other research and development endeavors are taken into consideration

  • India to test anthrax vaccine

    India is worried about bioterror attacks by Islamic extremists; it starts testing the potency of U.S.-manufactured vaccine; initially enough doses will be stored to protect military personnel

  • OSHA issues guidance regarding storage of face masks, respirators

    OSHA requests comments on proposed guidance on workplace stockpiling of respirators and face masks for pandemic influenza

  • Nanotechnology-based biosensor

    NASA develops nanotechnology-based biosensor that can detect trace amounts of specific bacteria, viruses, and parasites; New York-based Early Warning, Inc. will initially market the sensor to water treatment facilities, food and beverage companies, industrial plants, hospitals, and airlines

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  • A dead end for free trade? I

    Tightening border security along the U.S.-Canada border is hampering trade, experts say; delays owing to security checks have cascading effects, as supplies and raw materials are late arriving at manufacturing plants

  • Is the threat of bioterrorism exaggerated?

    William Clark, professor and chair emeritus of immunology at UCLA, says it is

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  • CDC biolab not ready after 2 1/2 years

    A new CDC biosafety lab was supposed to open in the fall of 2005; it is still not open, and legislators begin to wonder why; they note that at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, it took less than seven months for its BSL-4 lab to become operational after construction was finished

  • Boston biolab: Panel urges review of possible lab threats

    As community opposition to the almost-complete Boston University biolab continues, a panel of experts says neighborhood’s concerns — and safety — should not be excluded from consideration of final approval for lab opening

  • Market for molecular diagnostic technologies to grow

    The last few years have seen major strides forward in molecular diagnostic technologies; new report asses size of markets and opportunities in it

  • Detailed studies of U.S. disaster preparedness offer recommendations

    Critical care panel tackles disaster preparation, surge capacity, and health care rationing; some recommendations require largely greater budgets; other pose profound ethical and moral questions

  • Past patients to provide fast flu vaccine to new patients

    Currently it takes at least six months to produce a flu vaccine after a new strain appears; researchers find that a faster way would be to treat people with antibodies produced by earlier patients

  • Debate over private biolabs in Seattle

    Biolabs bring high-paying jobs to a community and contracts from government and the pharmaceutical industry; there is always a danger, though: an accident may occur and a deadly pathogen may be released into the environment to wreak havoc and death; in Seattle they debate the wisdom of locating biolabs in residential communities s

  • New ultrasensitive assay detects most poisonous substance known

    One gram of botulinum toxin could kill more than one million people — little wonder, then, that CDC identifies botulinum neurotoxin as one of six “maximum threat” bioterrorism agents; researchers have now developed a new ultrasensitive assay to detect botulinum neurotoxin

  • EU worries about threat posed by drug-resistant "super bugs"

    Four million people in the 27 EU member states have health-care infections every year — infections attributable to drug-resistant bugs; of these, 35,000 die; health officials plan EU-wide campaign

  • Man sickened in Las Vegas ricin incident arrested

    The man who was hospitalized on 14 February for breathing difficulties — and slipped into a coma until 14 March — is now charged with attempted bioterrorism; police find the following in his room: An “Anarchist’s Cookbook,” a collection of instructions on poisons and other dangerous recipes, including instructions on the preparation of ricin, two semiautomatic pistols, a rifle, and a pistol with a silencer