April 2003

Below is a listing of bioterrorism-related events this month, part of an ongoing bioterrorism chronology that begins with Sep 11, 2001. To see events from other months, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page.

Apr 30

Smallpox compensation program becomes law
President Bush signs a law to the bill passed by congress on April 11 that provides for compensation of healthcare and emergency workers harmed by the government's smallpox vaccination campaign (see April 11 item). Anyone dissatisfied with his or her compensation could sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Lawmakers have set aside $42 million to initially finance the compensation fund.

Apr 29

No anthrax in Eygptian sailor after all
An Egyptian sailor found dead on a shipping vessel off Brazil did not die of anthrax, according to a medical expert following a second medical examination. A first autopsy of the man, whom Brazilian police identify as Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim, indicated the presence of anthrax and fueled speculation that he was carrying the substance to Canada, the ship's final destination. "What I can say is that it is not anthrax," says Claudio Guimaraes, director of the Legal Medical Institute in the Amazon city of Belem. He could not immediately explain the cause of Ibrahim's death. Police initially reported that the man died after vomiting and suffering from internal bleeding and multiple organ failure.

Redlener to head disaster preparedness center at Columbia
Columbia University hires Dr. Irwin Redlener from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx to direct a new policy center on disaster preparedness, the New York Times reports. It is among several centers for public health preparedness financed by the CDC. Redlener and Columbia officials plan to obtain private financing to further develop that base into something comparable to the disaster policy programs at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota. "It's going to be a training center, under the guise of the CDC center," Redlener says, "but it'll also be a think tank where we can really get a handle on what our society needs to do to get better prepared for disasters in general and for new threats like terrorism in particular."

Iraqi prisoners deny existence of unconventional weaspons
High-ranking Iraqi prisoners say their government had no prohibited weapons before the war, US officials familiar with their interrogations say. Former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, Saddam's alleged advisor in chemical and biological agents, deny that such weapons exist, and are providing no information to US forces searching for evidence of alleged chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs in Iraq. By denying Iraq had weapons, the prisoners may be trying to distance themselves from Saddam's rule, one official says. After finding little evidence, military officials have largely abandoned earlier methods of searching only suspected weapons sites noted before the war. Defense officials say they are now mainly going where Iraqis point them.

Rice redefines what weapons inspectors may find in Iraq
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice now acknowledges that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program is both unclear and more difficult to identify than the White House described before the war. While insisting that the US-led coalition backed by experts from Britain and Australia will find evidence of the weapons, Rice is saying publicly that they are not likely to find actual weapons. Instead, she says, the weapons programs are likely embedded in bits and pieces in "dual-use" facilitiesfactories and laboratories capable of producing both legal and prohibited materials; ingredients or precursors, many nonlethal by themselves, may exist in these facilities.

Apr 28

Several thousand sites to be searched in Iraq, says Franks
Gen. Tommy R. Franks says that the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq requires scouring "several thousand sites," an initiative experts say could take months. "We have about 1,000 sites that we knew about before this point," Franks tells reporters. "We'll go through all of those. The whole thrust of this is probably going to carry us through several thousand sites up in that country." Franks also says that the well-known prisoner Tariq Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister, is answering interrogators' questions but that it is too early to know if he is being truthful or helpful.

Egyptian ship crewmember who died was carrying suitcase potentially containing anthrax
The Egyptian ship crewmember whose death may have been caused by anthrax (see Apr 24 item) was carrying a suitcase suspected of containing the bacteria. He was given the suitcase by an unidentified person in Cairo and was to deliver it in Canada. It is thought that did not know what the suitcase contained and opened it out of curiosity, after which he fell ill. Authorities are awaiting a conclusive autopsy report. The ship was placed under a 1,000-m exclusion zone when it arrived near the mouth of the Halifax harbor. Canadian officials will keep the 225-m bulk carrier out at sea until they learn whether it contains traces of the bacteria. Six specialists wearing protective suits and masks and armed with bleach inspected the ship and took swab samples from the ship's cabins, living quarters, galley, and bridge.

Apr 26

Number of scientists searching Iraq for weapons triples
Bush administration officials are tripling the number of scientists searching Iraq for banned weapons materials. Concerned that they might not find actual weapons, officials say they are confident they can find evidence of illegal chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. About 1,000 military and scientific personnel will be added to the current team of 500 to help interview Iraqis who might have knowledge of that country's weapons programs. Administration officials and experts say the evidence they discover will probably consist of materials such as empty shells intended for chemical or biological weapons, laboratories that could be used to make arms, and precursor chemicals that could be converted to weapons.

Apr 25

Iraqi scientist says info given to UN inspectors was all lies
A former member of Iraq's biological warfare program says that details he and other scientists gave United Nations inspectors about Iraq's poison weapons production "were all lies." Dr. Nissar Hindawi, imprisoned during the final weeks of Saddam Hussein's rule, says he was forced to work in the program from 1986 to 1989 and then intermittently until the mid-1990s. He says Iraq "produced huge quantities" of liquid anthrax and botulinum toxin, which it concentrated 5 to 10 times with sulfuric acid and other preservatives. "There were orders to destroy it," Hindawi says. "They destroyed somewhether all or not, I can't say." He says that while he was affiliated with the program and the UN inspectors, Iraq made 8.9 m³ of concentrated liquid anthrax and larger quantities of botulinum toxin. He says Iraq never made dried anthrax, which would have resulted in far more durable and dangerous spores.

US Chemical and Biological Defense Program to be restructured
Pentagon officials endorse a plan to restructure management of the US Chemical and Biological Defense Program. The program is responsible for acquisition of items such as protective equipment, chemical and biological agent detectors, decontamination equipment, and medical defense. The new structure simplifies several management positions and toughens accountability for different program components, according to a Pentagon release. Dale Klein, assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, and Anna Johnson-Winegar, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense, will oversee the program. The restructuring calls for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to manage the science and technology aspects, according to the Department of Defense.

Teams deployed to Iraq to disable, destroy any unconventional weapons found
Military experts prepare to head to Iraq to disable and destroy any newly discovered unconventional weapons, officials say. The initiative involves two large American contractors and hundreds of military and civilian specialists who plan to establish a central base where chemical, biological, and other such weapons can be securely stored and destroyed, reports the New York Times. The teams expect to remain in Iraq for about a year. "One of the challenges we have in planning is we don't know the scope of the mission," says Dr. Stephen M. Younger, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which heads the endeavor. "If nothing is found, we'll have nothing to eliminate," Younger adds. "But I'm reasonably confident that things will be found." The teams also plan to destroy "dual use" factories, technologies, and other materials that could be used for both civilian purposes and as unconventional weapons.

Apr 24

Non-coalition members could aid in Iraqi search for banned weapons, says Brit
Countries other than members of the US-led coalition could conduct the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, says British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon. According to Hoon, a "number of countries" are prepared to assume the task of verifying that Iraq is free of banned weapons. "We need independent verification of the discoveries that I'm confident we will make in due course," Hoon tells reporters. "I do not necessarily believe that it has to be the United Nations that provides that independent verification, but clearly the United Nations could be one of the organizations that does so." The US and UN Security Council have been at odds over who should conduct the search, though they recently indicated that a compromise could help bring an end to UN sanctions hindering Iraq's reconstruction. So far, US search teams have visited about 50 sites in Iraq but have yet to find banned weapons.

Death on Egyptian ship could be anthrax-caused
An Egyptian ship destined for Halifax with a load of bauxite is instead placed in quarantine after reports that a crewmember died of anthrax. The Wadi Alarab originally planned to deliver its load to an Alcan aluminum plant in Saguenay, Quebec, but diverted to Brazil to deliver the body of the ship's first mate for medical examination. An initial autopsy shows the man could have died of anthrax. Brazilian authorities will perform a second autopsy to confirm the results. Canadian health and shipping authorities are placing the ship under quarantine about 8 km offshore. Health Canada says the presence of anthrax has not yet been confirmed. "At this point it's still suspected," says Tracy Taweel, a spokesperson for Health Canada. "There's no confirmation whatsoever there is any trace of anthrax spores on the ship. Federal health officials say no one else on board is sick.

Apr 23

Remnants of suspected weapons lab found in Iraq
American-led forces occupy a looted Iraqi warehouse complex suspected of housing tests of unconventional agents on animals, according to military officers and weapons experts. Members of Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha say the warehouse is filled with broken parts and remnants of equipment consistent with a full-scale laboratory. Iraqis have told American weapons experts that Iraqi scientists tested various agents on dogs and other animals at the site, the experts say. American officials say that information gathered in the warehouse plus material collected from other sources and sites seems to provide some corroboration of accounts from an unidentified Iraqi scientist and others who say Saddam Hussein continued expanding his unconventional weapons programs while claiming to have dismantled them. Though the warehouse complex was a wreck when Americans arrived, analysts who have searched through the debris believe it was the site of a recently functioning laboratory.

Biological agents and equipment destroyed and hidden by Iraqi scientists
Iraqi scientists tell the Associated Press they received orders to destroy bacteria and equipment and hide materials in their homes before UN weapons inspector visits. In separate interviews, six scientists say they worked on civilian research and knew nothing of any programs for weapons of mass destruction. The information suggests that Saddam Hussein's government may have had advanced knowledge of some of the inspectors' visits, as the United States suspected. "An hour or two before the inspectors came to the university, I got my orders from the chairman," says a biochemistry professor at Saddam University for Science and Engineering. "The order was to hide anything that might make the inspectors suspicious. Any bacterium, any fungus. I destroyed seven petri dishes in the autoclave, and I put the others in the trunk of my car. He says the petri dishes held Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, and a fungus that causes severe skin problems.

Outdated quarantine laws being revised, modernized
Old quarantine laws are being updated in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Some of the laws allowing governments to confine people against their will during a health crisis are up to 200 years old. The revisions take into account the litigious nature of modern America. They provide ways to appeal quarantine orders and grant legal immunity to local officials, doctors, and others who could be recruited into government service during a crisis. Twelve other states are drafting similar proposals. Supporters of the new laws say that clarifying government powers and the public's rights should help limit confusion in a crisis. "The real risk is not reforming these laws," says Lawrence Gostin, director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown University's law school in Washington, D.C.

Smallpox vaccination program moves into phase 2
Federal health officials move forward with phase 2 of the smallpox vaccination program, planned to involve the inoculation of up to 10 million emergency "first responders." This phase of the campaign also requires states to prepare for all forms of terrorism, including chemical, radiological, and conventional weapons: HHS is issuing guidelines urging state health departments and hospitals to broaden their medical detection and response activities to include chemical and nuclear events and to set up labs capable of handling and analyzing chemicals that might be used by terrorists. The goal is "to enhance the capacity to respond to public health threats posed by terrorist events," says Michael Sage, deputy director of the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency. He warns, "It won't happen overnight. We're just at the beginning of the preparedness efforts from a national level."

Apr 22

National Guard testing for biological agents under way in NYC
Specially trained National Guard soldiers continue to test for biological agents in the basements and air ducts of New York's hotels, tourist sites, government buildings, and other office buildings such as the World Financial Center and City Hall. For the past month, the 22-member unit has been making repeated visits to as many as 30 sites. "Our job is to give the local authorities quick, preliminary information so they can save lives," says the unit's commander, Maj. Kaarlo J. Hietala. "We help provide the preliminary information they need to make decisions about whether to restrict access or quarantine an area, and how to handle patients." The team is based in Scotia, N.Y., and is one of 32 Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams stationed across the country. It is the only one testing for unconventional weapons in urban areas.

Suspicious powder found in Tacoma mail facility
Discovery of a suspicious white powder causes evacuation of a Tacoma mail distribution facility. The powder, which appeared on two letters, eventually proved to be nontoxic. One letter was addressed to the State Department and the other to the local police department, says Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan. Preliminary test results came back positive for botulism and plague, according to a CNN report. But additional testing determined that the powder was nontoxic, say Homeland Security Department officials. Four postal workers underwent decontamination as a precaution, but none of the four displayed any symptoms of illness. None of the 93 employees evacuated from the facility sustained any injuries.

Powdery substance causes evacuation of Florida airport
Discovery of a white powdery substance at Southwest Florida International Airport sends six people to the hospital. Airport spokeswoman Laska Ryan says the Fort Myers facility learned of the powder from package carrier FedEx, prompting them to call police, firefighters, and paramedics to the scene. Six people underwent decontamination treatment and were transported to Cape Coral Hospital. One person complained of irritation to the nasal passage. "The exposure came at an air cargo building adjacent to the airport, I understand a FedEx building," says Paul Filla, a spokesman for Lee County Emergency Medical Services. Filla adds that the powder apparently leaked from a package or container that had arrived on a FedEx flight from its hub in Memphis. Fort Myers city hazardous materials agents are investigating the powder.

Strategic looting may be playing a part in unsuccessful search for WMD in Iraq
Analysts from the Bush administration are growing doubtful that they will find weapons of mass destruction concealed in the Iraqi hiding places they have been searching. After testing some of their best leads, experts question if they will find what they are looking for from a target list drawn up before the war began. The US Central Command is moving quickly to secure a wider range of facilities in an effort to preserve evidence that defense officials fear is escaping. Intelligence indicates that Iraqi insiders have stolen files, electronic data, and equipment from unconventional arms programs under the cover of recent looting. If weapons or related information have been lost, US officials acknowledge that the war might prove to aggravate the proliferation threat that President Bush says he fought to avoid. "It's a danger," Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Washington Post. He added that there are signs "that some of the looting is actually strategic."

April 21

GAO faults postal officials for withholding anthrax test results
Congress's General Accounting Office says the US Postal Service broke federal job safety rules by failing to immediately disclose anthrax test results to workers at a contaminated Connecticut mail facility early in 2002. The GAO says the agency also undermined management's credibility when it turned down a request for test results from union representatives at the Southern Connecticut Processing and Distribution Center in Wallingford. Early results at the Wallingford facility were negative, but later tests showed dangerous levels of anthrax in samples from a sorting machine. The facility stayed open, and officials told workers that only "trace" amounts of anthrax had been found and that they should continue taking antibiotics. Officials did not release the results until September 2002, 9 months after they received them.

Iraqi scientist says regime destroyed banned weapons on eve of war
A scientist claiming to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade told an American team of weapons experts that Iraq destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment shortly before the war began, according to a New York Times report. Members of the Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, or MET, say the scientist led them to a cache of material that could be used to make illegal weapons. The scientist, who says he buried the material as proof of Iraq's prohibited weapons program, also claims that Iraq destroyed some stockpiles of deadly agents as early as the mid-1990s. The Iraqi government then moved others to Syria and shifted its focus to research and development projects that were virtually impossible for international inspectors to detect, the scientist said. MET team members said they consider the scientist credible, but they refused to identify him, saying they fear he might be subject to reprisals.

Apr 18

Skeptics speak up about improbability that Iraq has WMDs
Some experts are arguing that Iraq probably had no weapons of mass destruction, which would explain why American searchers are uncovering little of significance in their hunt for unconventional arms, reports the New York Times. One skeptic, Scott Ritter, is a former Marine Corps major who worked as a UN inspector in Iraq for 7 years. "If we find something, great," says Ritter of the search efforts. "But professionally, I don't see how these weapons could exist. They defy the laws of industry, the laws of science and technology." Ritter argues that Iraq once possessed many unconventional arms but they have either been destroyed or degraded. "They have no shelf life," he says. Another skeptic, Glenn Rangwala, a lecturer on Middle East politics at Cambridge University, says that evidence of Iraq's possession of unconventional weapons is "shaky at best." Harvard professor Matthew S. Meselson says if Washington possessed any hard evidence of such arms it would have presented it to the United Nations.

Success reported in pilot surveillance program for early detection of disease outbreaks
The CDC and several private health plans report success in an ongoing collaborative project aimed at better detection of potential bioterrorism attacks. The purpose of the pilot program, called the National Bioterrorism Syndromic Surveillance Demonstration Program, is to spot disease outbreaks before emergency rooms become overwhelmed with victims. Essentially it works through collecting data coming into health insurance plans via phone calls to nurse help lines and doctors' diagnoses, and then sorting the information by computer in search of disease and symptom patterns. The data is then sorted by ZIP code. The system is already helping track early signs of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The CDC awarded a grant of $1.2 million about a year ago to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a New England health plan, to begin collecting and analyzing information. Soon United Healthcare, HealthPartners in Minnesota, and Kaiser Permanente in Colorado will begin feeding their patient information to Harvard Pilgrim.

Apr 16

Bureaucratic infighting hinders search for Iraqi weapons
Foreign and American team members enlisted to follow-up US military efforts to locate unconventional weapons in Iraq say their efforts are being seriously compromised by bureaucratic infighting, according to a New York Times story. Many members of the 40- to 50-person team of Iraqi arms experts say the military's search efforts seem superficial and misguided. "They're going to blow it," one team member says. "That's the concern of a number of us." This expert and about six other team members are speaking on condition of anonymity. Another expert calls the military effort na?ve. "They're reinventing the wheel," he says. "It doesn't seem to be a well-executed plan." Defense Department officials admit some mistakes but defend the military hunt thus far. Some of the team members attribute their delayed training and departure to bureaucratic ineptitude among military and security agencies. They say morale among inspection team members has deteriorated with increasing doubts about the effort's chances for success

Syria may be actively pursuing chemical/biological weapons, says CIA
Syria began building chemical warheads and Scud missiles more than 30 years ago as a force equalizer against Israel's development and possession of nuclear weapons, according to present and former US intelligence officials. The CIA reports that for the past 2 years Syria has "a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin, but apparently is trying to develop more toxic and persistent nerve agents." The agency also reports that it is "highly probable that Syria also is continuing to develop an offensive biological warfare capability." Middle East experts agree that almost every country in the region has pursued development of weapons of mass destruction because of Israel's arsenal, says Joseph Cirincione, head of the nonproliferation program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "You can't get rid of chemical or biological or nuclear programs in Arab countries unless you also address the elimination of Israel's nuclear and chemical programs," Cirincione says.

Apr 14

Public health workers told to better juggle basic services, emergency demands
Washington State health officials say the cost and demands of preparing for a possible smallpox attack are hurting basic public health services with cutbacks in childhood vaccinations and tuberculosis management. "It has forced trade-offs in everything we do," says Dr. Alonzo Plough, public health director for Seattle and King County, which is working with its worst tuberculosis outbreak in 30 years. But federal officials say this could be the norm. "We are never going to get back to the days when we did 'regular' public health," says the CDC's Dr. Ed Thompson. "For the rest of all our careers in public health, we're going to do the emergency crisis and the daily work side by side," Federal officials say local health workers must get better at juggling daily duties with emergency demands. "That's the nature of public healththings come up," says Thompson, deputy director for public health services at the CDC.

Vets watch for potential terrorism-related animal diseases
Veterinarians throughout the country are being trained by the US Department of Agriculture to recognize and report diseases potentially usable by terrorists to destroy the US livestock and/or poultry industries. They play a crucial role in government surveillance systems being developed to detect unusual patterns of animal disease that could signal a natural or intentional outbreak. Vets watch for diseases that can pass from animals to humans, such as anthrax, plague, and tularemia, as well as those that could decimate animal populations, including swine fever, avian flu, and foot-and-mouth disease. The USDA is asking for an additional $47 million this year to bolster a federal and state government network to respond to bioterrorism and animal disease outbreaks, and another $23 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Apr 13

Smallpox vaccine stores may spoil, some experts advise stopping program
With the disappointing progress of the federal smallpox vaccination program, tens of thousands of vaccine doses are in danger of spoiling if states cannot quickly recruit more volunteers. Moreover, the poor response and doubts that Iraq will launch a smallpox attack against the United States are prompting admonitions from public health leaders to halt the campaign. "Everything should be on hold," says Frank Judson, director of Denver Public Health and a veteran of the smallpox global eradication campaign. "There should be no further effort to vaccinate Americans unless by some totally improbable action it [the virus] shows up in Iraq." He and other critics say the overwhelming emphasis on smallpox has left the nation vulnerable to other weaponized germs and naturally occurring outbreaks such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Apr 12

Possible warheads and rocket components found in Iraq
US paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade find what they say looks like suspicious warheads and rocket components outside the former governor's office in Kirkuk, Iraq. Unable to determine if the cone-shaped warheads are a type prohibited by UN resolutions or intended to hold chemical or biological weapons, the officers say they appear to be the lethal ends of surface-to-surface rockets. Each is about 5 feet long and 20 inches thick at the base. The warheads are packed in crates. Army and Air Force specialists will examine them before they are moved.

Head Iraqi science advisor surrenders, says no chemical/biological weapons there
Iraq's head science advisor, Gen. Amir al-Saadi, surrenders in downtown Baghdad after telling a German journalist that Iraq has no chemical or biological weapons. "Nothing, nothing," Saadi says during a taped interview in his Baghdad home before turning himself over to US Marines. "I'm saying this for posterity, for history, not for defending the regime." Saadi is described as the engineer of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programs and serves as the liaison with the UN arms inspectors in Iraq. He insists Iraq's last report to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix accounted for 550 missing artillery shells filled with mustard gas. He further says that Iraq was close to accounting for all missing weapons of mass destruction, including VX, a nerve gas, when the war began. "Time will bear me out," he says. "There will be no difference after the war is over."

Priority sites in Iraq to be searched for banned weapons
American forces confine their hunt for banned weapons in Iraq to about 3 dozen priority sites, although they have yet to find any chemical, biological, or nuclear agents. The priority sites, dispersed throughout Iraq, were selected from more than 1,000 laboratories, plants, military installations, and storage facilities once thought to contain banned weapons and component materials, officials say. The narrowed list should help increase the odds of military search teams quickly uncovering weapons materials. The search is being conducted by the Army's 75th Intelligence Exploitation Task Force, which includes numerous teams of several hundred Defense Intelligence Agency officers, CIA officers, FBI agents, and biologists. Officials say they expect that site inspections could take at least a month.

Apr 11

Smallpox vaccination compensation plan passes
A compensation package for persons harmed by smallpox vaccine is approved by Congress after much debate between the Bush administration and Democrats. The final plan, more generous than the original proposal from the White House, entitles people who are totally and permanently disabled as a result of the vaccine to receive up to $50,000 per year in lost wages. Those with temporary disability or permanent partial disability would receive lost wages up to a ceiling of $262,100. Families of people who die from the vaccine would receive up to $50,000 per year in lost wages until the youngest child reaches age 18. The lack of a compensation plan has been considered one of the reasons the federal smallpox vaccination plan has not moved forward as quickly as hoped. (See CIDRAP News story.)

No ricin in Paris bottles after all
Two bottles discovered at a Paris railway station last month do not contain ricin but rather ground-up grains of wheat and barley, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. "Preliminary tests pointed towards ricin but they were not confirmed by more tests," an official says. Initially, officials thought the bottles found in a luggage locker at the Gare de Lyon on Mar 17 contained traces of ricin and suggested that there could be a connection to a Jan 5 incident in England when British police found traces of ricin in a raid on a London flat.

Army research replicates anthrax powder in 2001 mail attacks
Army scientists replicate anthrax powder used in the 2001 mail attacks, indicating its manufacture requires only a simple, inexpensive process and limited skill, according to government sources. The new research supports the FBI theory that the mailed anthrax probably came from a disgruntled scientist and not a military program such as Iraq's. The research, conducted at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, raises concerns that terrorist groups could create lethal bioweapons without scientific or financial help from a state. Biowarfare expert Richard O. Spertzel, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, questions whether the Dugway research matched the purity and particle size of the mailed anthrax and believes foreign origins, such as Iraq, should not be ruled out.

Possible mobile biological weapons lab found in Iraq
Fox News' reporter Rick Leventhal reports that the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines with which he is embedded may have discovered a mobile biological weapons lab near Baghdad. The Marines tried to detain a vehicle that appeared to be a refrigerator truck. When the driver failed to stop, troops fired, prompting the driver to jump out and run. Investigators found what looked like a surface-to-air-radar vehicle with hidden side panels where an electronic pulley system, open containers, a winch, and hooks for rinsing and cooling substances were hidden. The Marines say that the vehicle requires further tests to determine its purpose.

Apr 10

New Jersey mail plant cleanup has a long way to go
Cleanup of the large Hamilton, N.J., mail-sorting facility contaminated by anthrax sports in September 2001 and subsequently closed will take another year, according to the US Postal Service. The final step in decontamination, fumigation with chlorine gas and installation of new equipment, will begin in the fall. The 500 postal workers affected have been working in a temporary center that requires a further commute for 18 months already. Thomas G. Day, the Postal Service's top engineer, says, "Our unofficial motto has been, 'Do it right, not fast,' and it's still going to take time to get this done the right way."

Apr 9

New PO safety system uses DNA to detect biological hazards
The US Postal Service expands a new biological detection system to identify a potential anthrax attack. Initial tests have taken place in Baltimore and will now go to 14 other cities for evaluation, says Tom Day, postal vice president for engineering. "We have carefully reviewed its results, and we are now confident that it is working successfully," Day says at a USPS news conference. The system, which uses rapid DNA testing to identify anthrax, can be modified to check for other biological hazards, he says. The anthrax detectors are attached to the first pieces of automated equipment that handle mail in sorting offices. The system does not disrupt mail processing and produces results in as little as 30 minutes, according to Day. The tests begin June 1 and run for 30 days. The Postal Service will then determine whether to install the equipment across the country.

Apr 8

Iraqi air strikes planned to skirt potential chemical/biological agents
US air strikes over Iraq are being launched with great care to avoid a destructive release of suspected Iraqi chemical and biological agents. US forces incorporate factors such as wind direction into bombing decisions to help minimize the potential for casualties resulting from such a release, says Army Lt. Col. Thomas Woloszyn, who heads the chemical and biological defense for the US Central Command at its Joint Operations Center in Qatar. "A lot of emphasis is placed on minimizing collateral damage, and if we can check the weather reports and get the most accurate [reports] possible prior to a strike, we'll do that," Woloszyn says. Another potential approach to minimizing casualties would be to use "agent-defeat" weapons that incinerate targets, minimizing their dispersal. Woloszyn says US forces try to destroy weaponized agents that could be used against troops but generally avoid striking a known chemical or biological production facility.

VA centers for bio/chem/radiological terrorism research left in the dust
Four centers for research on the medical effects of biological, chemical, and radiological terrorism remain little more than an idea rather than part of the federal government's plan for terrorism preparedness. The centers, approved by a bill enacted in November, are supposed to be set up by the Department of Veterans Affairs and must be affiliated with medical schools and graduate schools of epidemiology or public health. The bill authorized $20 million a year for 5 years to pay for the centers. It also authorized creation of an assistant secretary position to supervise this initiative and empowered VA hospitals to care for active duty military personnel and civilian federal workers involved in responding to a terrorism event. But the omnibus budget bill for fiscal 2003, enacted this year, says that no money in it could be used to create the "medical emergency preparedness centers" or the new assistant secretary position.

GAO reports varying levels of preparedness across state/local governments
State and city officials need better direction from the federal government to respond effectively to bioterrorist attacks, according to a General Accounting Office report titled "Preparedness Varied across State and Local Jurisdictions." The study covered seven states and found that cities and states must better organize their efforts to identify and track sickness caused by a bioterrorist attack. While some local governments are prepared for natural and large-scale disasters, these plans may not work in the event of a biological terror event. Governmental units that have experienced large public health emergencies are better prepared to deal with bioterrorism, the GAO says.

Apr 7

Work surrounding SARS outbreak aids global prep efforts for bioterrorism
The international outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is helping US public health systems prepare for a possible bioterrorism attack, say federal health officials. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says the process of coordinating the national and international health community in response to SARS compares to the process of handling a bioterror attack. "The investments we have made in emerging and re-emerging diseases can and will be rapidly deployed now and in the futurefor deliberately or naturally released" diseases, Fauci says. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., calls the virus "a wake-up call" to the dangers of a potential biological attack and the importance of national preparedness.

Possible sarin storage site found near Baghdad
US biological and chemical weapons experts discover what they believe is a storage site for weapons of mass destruction near Baghdad, according to a US officer. The unidentified military source says unconfirmed reports suggest the site may contain the lethal nerve agent sarin. "Our detectors have indicated something," says Maj. Ross Coffman, a public affairs officer with the US 3rd Infantry. "It is not as if there is a cloud of gas hanging everywhere endangering soldiers lives. We're talking about a facility."

Apr 5

US military defers smallpox shots for those with heart disease risk
The US military moves to defer smallpox vaccinations for troops at high risk of heart disease following three deaths (two civilian, one military [National Guard]) from heart attacks possibly linked to recent vaccination. Adopting CDC guidelines that bar inoculation for people with three or more major risk factors for heart disease, the military will now screen for individuals who smoke or use tobacco or have diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or a close relative with a heart condition before age 50. None of the patients who died had evidence of disseminated vaccinia infection or myocarditis, suggesting that their ischemic events did not result from vaccinia-associated myocarditis. However, health officials are investigating whether smallpox vaccination could have contributed to the events in some other way

North Carolina provides example of distressed smallpox program
As one example of a broad national problem, North Carolina is struggling to complete its smallpox vaccination program due to concerns about the vaccine's potential side effects and a lack of means for compensating those who become ill or die from the inoculation. Although officials in that state hoped to vaccinate 7,500 volunteers by now, only 1,125 health workers have received the vaccination. The second phase of the vaccination plan, which includes up to 285,000 police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers, was set to begin this summer but is now on hold. "I would like us to have gone further and faster, purely so we could feel more comfortable about our ability to respond if we had a suspected case of smallpox," says Dr. James Kirkpatrick, North Carolina's bioterrorism coordinator. Other public health officials say they are frustrated that the Bush administration required states to implement a vaccine plan but then failed to produce money for people who became ill from the inoculations.

Apr 4

Project Bioshield legislation may spur biotech innovation, provide liability protection
The US biotechnology industry seeks to gain liability protection in the proposed Project Bioshield legislation aimed at spurring development of new biological terrorism countermeasures. The legislation would provide $6 billion over 10 years to create a market for new vaccines and treatments against biological agents in order to encourage private industry research and development. Private industry has expressed concern about the liability protection issue. Prospective participants also say they need assurance that the market the US government seeks to create is adequate to meet the high costs of researching, developing and producing biological countermeasures.

International security expert claims scientists need policing
Scientists must be "policed," or "hundreds of millions" of people could be at risk of bioterrorist attacks, Dr. John Steinbruner, a US international security policy expert tells BBC News Online. Steinbruner says a regulatory body must be established to control access to "highly consequential" research into biotechnology. His warning comes as a UK survey of doctors at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital, published in the British Medical Journal, reports only 11 out of 77 knew what their role would be in the event of an attack. Steinbruner, based at the University of Maryland, says the speed at which science is progressing means that existing pathogens could be adapted to be more lethal. "There's no pathogen at the moment that is the best at all things, at transmission, infection, and lethality," he says. "But it's not hard to imagine that you could, say, take the most effective spreader and make it more lethal and infectious."

NYC syndromic surveillance system gets a real-world test
A computer at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's headquarters is providing an advanced early warning system for possible disease outbreaks. The Syndromic Surveillance System recently detected a sharp increase in the number people coming to one hospital's emergency room with fever and breathing trouble. The computer's statistical analysis program pointed to a possible outbreak of the respiratory disease SARS. The discovery prompted a team of city health workers to question doctors and patients about symptoms, travel, and recovery and prepare to isolate them if necessary. It turned out to be a false alarm, pointed out the system's promise as a counter-terrorism measure.

Apr 3

NYSACHO says state aid reductions would have dire public health consequences
The New York State Association of County Health Officials warns that proposed reductions in state aid would drastically hurt health services, affecting everything from cancer screenings to home health care and possibly opening communities to disease outbreaks and bioterrorism. Association members say their resources are already depleted due to budget cutbacks, smallpox vaccinations, and respondes to anthrax and SARS. "We will not have a workable public health system if this budget goes through," Dr. Lloyd F. Novick, the association's president and the health commissioner of Onondaga County, tell the New York Times. Novick says that while the counties receive federal grants amounting to about $1 per resident to prepare for bioterrorism, it will not make up for the state cuts.

New biohazard protocol at the Post Office
The US Postal Service develops a new security plan that calls for mail-handling centers to immediately shut down and evacuate employees at the first sign of a biohazard. The new protocol, still in development, would remove all local discretion from the process, mandating that discovery of a biohazard automatically closes a facility and sets an evacuation and decontamination plan in motion. The process depends on the Postal Service's installment of biohazard detection equipment in its 280 mail-processing plants. The agency is currently testing the equipment at a Baltimore facility, but it could take more than 18 months to deploy the system nationwide. "We have learned a lot since October 2001," Thomas Day, vice president of engineering for the agency, tells Postal Service employees. "If we had this system in place in 2001, we would have shut down the facility and decontaminated people," he says.

Apr 2

UN doubts Iraqi report on WMD destruction
Recent Iraqi updates on weapons of mass destruction fail to convince UN weapons inspectors that Saddam Hussein has destroyed all of its anthrax stores. Shortly before the United Statesled war on Iraq began, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission received a report from Iraq attempting to account for the destruction of 3,400 liters of anthrax agent at a site called Al-Hakam. The commission experts doubt that the Iraqi report completely documents anthrax destruction activities, according to spokesman Ewen Buchanan. UN inspectors also doubt Iraq's claim of how much anthrax agent it produced.

Chemical/biological weapons could be made from crude items with minimal training
The FBI warns that terrorists could improvise chemical or biological weapons using common household items obtained online or in stores. Terrorists could easily make cyanide compounds, grow Salmonella bacteria and botulinum toxin, or distill the poison ricin from castor beans, they say. An FBI memo, sent to 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies, details past attacks using comparable weapons. Yeast, infant formula, sugar, Epsom salts, cheesecloth, blenders, mask, and gloves are widely available items that terrorists could use to set up a laboratory and make crude chemical and biological weapons, the bulletin says. A key tool is the agar plate, which is used by scientists and doctors to grow cultures. "Large numbers of agar plates can be inoculated and harvested by an individual possessing minimal training," the FBI bulletin says. "These agar plates could produce sufficient quantities of bacteria to sicken or kill large numbers of people."

New Battelle laboratory opens, will do work aimed at chemical/biological warfare agents
A new $22 million, 73,000-square-foot laboratory that will house research directed at chemical and biological warfare opens. Located near the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the Battelle Eastern Region Technology Center, with its planned 16 chemical and biological laboratories and 200 employees, intends to study, among other work, methods for improving the detection of chemical and biological weapons. Battelle, founded 70 years ago, is one of the largest nonprofit research and development firms in the world. It has helped develop the first fully functional automatic pathogen detectors and has recently inspected more than 100 buildings in the Washington area and made recommendations for improvements against chemical or biological attack.

Apr 1

Some states suspend smallpox vaccinations because of new cardiac concerns
About 10 states, including California and New York, have suspended their participation in the smallpox vaccination plan while a full investigation of the vaccine's side effects, particularly the possibility of cardiac adverse events, is undertaken. Washington State is suspending vaccinations for 2 weeks while health workers are re-screened, noting that 75% of the targeted vaccinees in their state are older than 45 and thus at increased risk for heart disease. The CDC is distributing revised vaccination educational materials to health departments throughout the country.

Funding shortage leaves some states without National Guard assistance for bio/chem attack
Lack of funding for an important National Guard program leaves 19 states without full-time military teams to assist with chemical or biological attacks and other war-related crises. The weapons of mass destruction civil support teams were authorized in the 2004 defense authorization act Congress passed last year. Pentagon officials say they could not include the money in the 2004 appropriations request because the act was not signed into law until last Dec 2. The full-time National Guard teams are trained to work with first responders to manage a chemical or biological attack on US soil. The Clinton administration proposed the first teams in 1998. Ten teams were certified in 2000 and 22 more have been added since then. Each team has 22 members and is outfitted with detection equipment, mobile laboratories, and command posts.

Iraqi plot to poison water for US troops thwarted
Jordanian authorities arrest a group of Iraqi agents plotting to poison a water tank that supplies hundreds of US troops at a military base in Khao, in the eastern desert of Jordan, near Iraq. Officials say the plot was connected to the expulsion last month of three Iraqi diplomats, who were removed from Jordan for undermining its national security. Reportedly there are thousands of American troops in Jordan, operating Patriot missile batteries, and at bases near the Iraqi border. Officials are offering little information about the plot, though they say that no one was sickened or injured.

For other months' installments, go to the Bioterrorism Watch index page