News & Perspective

Disclosure: The University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News, has produced training programs and materials for the BioWatch program. The news team has no involvement in the center's BioWatch work.

In the wake of a newspaper investigation that questioned the value of the federal BioWatch program for detecting dangerous airborne pathogens, some public health officials familiar with the program acknowledge that it's far from perfect, but they say it's not time to scrap it.

(CIDRAP News) – A report from the National Research Council (NRC) calls for some changes in a US Army immunization program for lab researchers who work with dangerous pathogens, saying the vaccines need to be made more accessible to civilian scientists.

(CIDRAP News) – Stricter testing for ground beef bound for school lunches, emergency food banks, and other government programs isn't likely to boost safety, but a stronger scientific basis and other measures could, according to a new report from the National Research Council (NRC).

(CIDRAP News) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the appointment of two committees to help address public worries about the safety of a biodefense laboratory under construction in Boston, 3 months after the National Research Council (NRC) sharply criticized an NIH risk assessment of the project.

(CIDRAP News) – Amid controversy around the construction of a biodefense laboratory in Boston, a project risk assessment from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is funding the lab, has been condemned as unsound by the National Research Council (NRC).

(CIDRAP News) – A new government-wide effort to sustain the cutting-edge life sciences research for which the United States is known but to also guard against misuse of the knowledge and technologies growing from this research was announced today by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson.

(CIDRAP News) – It's time to link science-based food safety standards with specific public health goals, says a report released today by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies.

(CIDRAP News) – In passing a bill to create a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week, Congress left the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in charge of most bioterrorism preparedness and civilian biodefense research programs—to the relief of medical research and public health groups.