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U.S. Unprepared for Bioterror, Researchers Say
The United States is not prepared for the “real” threat of bioterrorism, according to a panel of public health experts, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26). Participants in a forum organized by former Sen. Sam Nunn at Georgia Tech yesterday said that despite billions of dollars in government spending, the United States remains vulnerable to attacks using biological weapons, and that much of the population has become complacent about the threat. Among the concerns are the U.S. ability to maintain control of anthrax and other dangerous substances, supply enough vaccines to safeguard the public and limit financial damage in the face of an attack, speakers said. “The biological threat is serious, it is real, it must be dealt with,” said retired Air Force Gen. John Gordon, President George W. Bush’s assistant for homeland security. “There is nowhere where we are doing more right now, and nowhere in homeland security where we have further to go,” he added. The public and many government officials do not perceive the seriousness of the threat, said Tara O’Toole, director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Local leaders, the mayors and the governors who will be charged with bioresponse, are not persuaded that this is a serious threat or that it is their responsibility,” said O’Toole. “This is not on the public’s political agenda,” she added. Nunn, who chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee before retiring from Congress in 1996 and now leads the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said the danger posed by biological weapons is particularly difficult to assess because the materials used to produce them are not under government lock and key. “Unlike the nuclear threat, where nuclear materials are held either by government entities or by public utilities, biological pathogens and the equipment necessary to make biological weapons are routinely and legitimately, and in most cases beneficially, used throughout the pharmaceutical industry, the biotech industry and academic research centers on virtually every college campus in America,” he said. Speakers also said businesses and universities must be included in bioterror planning because they have access to the materials used to weaponize pathogens. They would also likely experience serious economic damage in the face of such an attack and could even be its targets. “If you look at the economic infrastructure in this country, the places that you would list as the most vulnerable to terrorism are mostly owned by businesses,” Nunn said (M.A.J. McKenna, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 24). [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.]
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