U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher has said Washington might amend a proposal for restore nuclear trade with India (Farooq Naeem/Getty Images). NSG Defers India Decision Facing a surprising number of objections to its draft proposal to exempt India from international nuclear trade rules, the United States agreed today to rework the draft in time for another meeting of nuclear exporters Sept. 4-5, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 21)...Full Story

Senators Seek to Boost U.S. Biosafety By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Two veteran U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation intended to reduce the likelihood of potentially disastrous accidents at facilities that handle lethal disease agents (see GSN, Feb. 21)...Full Story

U.S. Military Freezes Transfers of Research Toxins U.S. military services have tightened restrictions on potential biological-weapon agents in their laboratories and suspended their transfer with private delivery services such as FedEx, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2005)...Full Story

	Friday, August 22, 2008

NSG Defers India Decision Facing a surprising number of objections to its draft proposal to exempt India from international nuclear trade rules, the United States agreed today to rework the draft in time for another meeting of nuclear exporters Sept. 4-5, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 21). U.S. officials had hoped that this week’s meeting of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna would approve the U.S. draft today, but nearly half of the group members proposed altering the text to impose additional conditions on India, according to Reuters. India is currently barred from purchasing key nuclear technology and material on open markets because NSG rules forbid such sales to nations that have not joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not allow international oversight of all their nuclear activities. In a tentative deal announced three years ago, the United States has led a push to exempt New Delhi from the ban, arguing that the nation has a solid nonproliferation record and that nuclear energy would aid India’s development and address global climate change concerns. In 2006, U.S. lawmakers gave India a pass from most U.S. nuclear nonproliferation limits, and New Delhi last month won approval for plan to permit the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the nation’s civilian nuclear sector. The NSG rules are the last hurdle to opening international nuclear trade to India, a goal criticized by many traditional nonproliferation proponents who have urged the group to impose stricter conditions than the United States proposed (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, Aug. 22). Some NSG members, for example, this week sought a group commitment to end any nuclear trade with India should the nation resume nuclear testing, according to meeting participants.  India first tested a nuclear device in 1974 and several more in 1998. A U.S. official said Washington could modify its draft proposal. “There may be changes in the text,” said Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, “but we will not allow any changes that will impede the process or block cooperation” (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Monsters and Critics, Aug. 22). Back to top       Iranian Banks Skirt U.S. Sanctions A major Iranian bank is working with smaller banks to ease the impact of U.S. sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to halt its controversial nuclear activities, the Financial Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 21). Washington imposed sanctions on Iran’s three largest banks last October in an effort to dry up financial support for nuclear work Western powers fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb (see GSN, Oct. 25, 2007). “The U.S. sanctions initially had a negative impact on the bank’s reputation and created troubles, but in practice there was no halt in our operations,” said Ali Divandar, head of Iran’s Bank Mellat.  “We are now working with important international commercial and correspondent banks on a daily basis … including European, Asian and African ones,” adding the bank has ties with more international financial institutions than in the past while refusing to disclose names or nationalities of participant firms. “This economy has its own attractions, even under the worst conditions,” Divandari said.  “It will be troublesome if Europe imposes unilateral sanctions on Iran’s banks, but we will be able to again replace the outgoing banks.” Although Iran has kept financial channels open, Western diplomats said, the heightened expense and difficulty of working with the Middle Eastern state has already lost it major business opportunities (Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Financial Times, Aug. 21). Back to top       Asian Summit to Address North Korean Verification The leaders of South Korea and China plan Monday to discuss how to revive a deadlocked effort aimed at disabling North Korea’s nuclear weapons complex, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 21). Verifying a North Korean declaration of nuclear assets and activities is the next step in denuclearizing the Stalinist state under a six-nation agreement reached last year.  Pyongyang has so far refused to accept proposed terms for the verification effort. "We will explain our policy on North Korea and request China to play a constructive role in improving inter-Korean relations," a high-level South Korean official said yesterday.  "We will ask China to play an active role as host of six-party talks for the thorough verification of North Korea's declaration and entry to the third phase of denuclearization" (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 22). Back to top       Nuclear Test Monitor to Conduct Major Drill The treaty organization responsible for monitoring nuclear explosions is preparing to carry out a major drill next month, the group announced yesterday (see GSN, March 6). The “Integrated Field Exercise 2008” is expected to incorporate every step in the detection and inspection of a possible nuclear explosion, beginning when indications of unusual seismographic activity are received at the Vienna monitoring center of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. Roughly 50 metric tons of equipment is planned to be flown to the scenario’s suspected nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, enabling a 40-member inspection team to search for gamma radiation and seismic reverberations as well as run tests with ground penetration radar and magnetic and gravitational mapping. The test, expected to last the entire month of September, would conclude with the preparation of a final inspection report. “What counts is to show the world that the CTBT’s verification system really works,” CTBTO chief Tibor Toth said in a statement.  “The Integrated Field Exercise is a major priority for us in 2008.  It’s important for preparing for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.” The exercise is expected to involve more than 200 contributors, including the inspectors, Kazakh officials, international evaluators and observers as well as support crews from Vienna. “The former Soviet Union nuclear test site of Semipalatinsk, where 456 nuclear explosions were carried out between 1949 and 1989, will be the site for conducting the exercise,” Boris Kvok, head of on-site inspections, said in a statement. “That it is a former nuclear test site makes it ideal for our experts.  As foreseen by the treaty, the inspection area will be limited to [620 square miles],” Kvok added (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Aug. 21). Back to top

Senators Seek to Boost U.S. Biosafety By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Two veteran U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation intended to reduce the likelihood of potentially disastrous accidents at facilities that handle lethal disease agents (see GSN, Feb. 21). The bill from Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) followed a series of mishaps in recent years at biological defense research institutions, notably exposures of several Texas A&M staffers to Brucella and Q fever (see GSN, Sept. 20, 2007).  It predated by less than two months the Justice Department’s identification of U.S. Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax mailings (see GSN, Aug. 7). Among a host of legislative proposals addressing disease research safety and security are calls for improvements to oversight and training at Biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratories, which can contain the most dangerous pathogens. Burr and Kennedy are also seeking funding reauthorization through 2013 of the U.S. Select Agent Program, which sets rules for the 400 entities and more than 14,000 individuals authorized to hold, use and ship any of 72 agents and toxins that could pose significant health threats to humans, animals and plants.  The list includes potential bioterrorism agents such as ricin, the smallpox virus, and the bacteria that cause anthrax and plague. “Recent public attention to the 2001 anthrax attacks is a reminder of the importance of controlling access to certain dangerous biological agents and toxins that could be used for bioterrorism; our bill does just that,” Burr said in a statement.  “It reauthorizes and strengthens the Select Agent Program, which regulates the possession, use, and transfer of agents that pose a threat to public health and safety.  “We must remain vigilant in our efforts to protect the American people from bioterrorism,” he added.  “In this time of exciting scientific advances, we must ensure that our laws and prevention programs reflect current conditions.” The number of BSL-3 and 4 research laboratories has exploded in recent years as a response to the threats of bioterrorism and pandemic disease.  How many “high-containment” sites are in operation remains unknown; two separate government reports in 2005 found that there were either 277 or more than 600 BSL-3 facilities in the United States.  The Government Accountability Office last year counted at least 15 existing or planned Biosafety Level 4 sites — those with systems intended to allow them to safely manage materials that cause fatal diseases for which there are no preventive countermeasures — spread across the government, academic and private sectors. The growing count of disease study facilities, and the rising population of researchers handling dangerous materials, creates an increased risk for potential exposures, according to some observers. As one participant noted during a 2006 meeting organized by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Biosecurity for discussion of biodefense research, “We’re going to have all of these researchers … who have crossed out ‘plant’ on their grants and written in ‘anthrax’ and have gotten funded.” “A lot of people are concerned in the community, and they should be,” said Gigi Kwik Gronvall, a senior associate at the center, which is supporting the legislation.  “These diseases are not worked in containment for no reason.  Most laboratory accidents, if it causes an infection, it causes an infection in the worker.  We wouldn’t want that to be out of ignorance, especially since some of these diseases have no cure.” The Burr-Kennedy, legislation, the Select Agent Program and Biosafety Improvement Act, would address training, oversight and other issues raised by the center and the Government Accountability Office.  It is now before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, awaiting lawmakers’ return to Washington next month after the summer break. Should the bill be approved, the heads of the Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Defense and Homeland Security departments within 240 days would be required to prepare an assessment of oversight issues at high-containment biological laboratories. Oversight involves anything from ensuring equipment maintenance to unannounced inspections to verify that laboratories maintain current inventories of their pathogen samples, said Jean Patterson, virology and immunology chief at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, a BSL-4 site in San Antonio, Texas. Issues for consideration would include whether there are enough high-containment sites to meet U.S. biodefense and infectious disease research needs, possible improvements in biosafety and biosecurity training, and how to best share lessons learned from the operation of existing facilities. Biosafety is generally defined as safety measures to prevent the release of infectious agents within a laboratory or the outside environment.  Biosecurity involves more active methods to avert biological terrorism or other disease breakouts. The bill calls for relevant government agencies and independent experts to develop minimum biosafety and biosecurity training procedures for personnel at BSL-3 and 4 facilities.  Sites that failed to provide the minimum level of training would be banned from working with select agents. “When you had only a few people working in these areas, then they would train their people so that they could work safely in BSL-4,” Gronvall told Global Security Newswire.  “Now that there are so many more scientists that are going to be working in these conditions, there needs to be a way to standardize that training so that you can conserve these mentors’ time and energy and bring everybody up to a certain level.” Increased attention by laboratory management in this area could serve to help identify a scientist who, like Ivins is alleged to have done, planned to misuse the dangerous materials found at a research facility, Gronvall said. “I think training in safety, that confidence aspect, it’s more interaction with the scientists, more checking of the work force, if they’re prepared,” she said  “If that leads to more doubts about a worker’s suitability for that type of work, then perhaps that’s a good thing.” Burr and Kennedy are also pressing for the Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments to establish a reporting system for accidents or other “incidents of concern.”  An independent entity would analyze reports for possible trends and issue alerts as necessary.  The reporters and the involved institutions themselves would not be publicly identified. While Select Agent Program rules require reporting of laboratory accidents, “the almost accidents are not reported,” Gronvall said. Along with extending the Select Agent Program, the senators are requesting a National Academy of Sciences review of the initiative’s affect on U.S. biosecurity and biosafety and its impact on scientific advancement and international research collaboration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which regulates activity involving agents and toxins that could pose a threat to humans, would only say that it supported reauthorization of the program.  The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which conducts the same work for disease material that poses a threat to animal or plant life, said it could not comment on pending legislation. Representatives from several BSL-4 laboratories did not return requests for comment or said they could not discuss the bill before it was voted up or down. Patterson, who was among the scientists who reviewed drafts of the legislation for the senators, said the bill proposes “common sense” regulations without restricting crucial biodefense research. That balance remains important as long as the United States faces acts of biological terrorism or natural pandemic, Gronvall said. “We do not have at the end of the day the drugs, vaccines we need for an anthrax attack or another biological weapon,” she said.  “Pretending there is not a vulnerability is not going to make it go away.” Back to top       U.S. Military Freezes Transfers of Research Toxins U.S. military services have tightened restrictions on potential biological-weapon agents in their laboratories and suspended their transfer with private delivery services such as FedEx, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2005). The restrictions were put in place after top military officials learned that a U.S. Army scientist was the sole suspect for the 2001 anthrax mailings (see GSN, Aug. 21). The Navy and Air Force have both temporarily barred shipments of deadly agents such as anthrax and plague, and personnel now require a special clearance or supervision from a cleared staffer to work with such substances, officials in the services said yesterday. The Navy’s biological research material "is accounted for and none has been compromised.  A thorough inventory will be a part of this stand down," said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis. Davis added the freeze had been implemented “out of an abundance of caution” to review the Navy’s holdings at its research facilities.  The Navy runs two laboratories that work with toxins in the United States and single sites in Egypt, Indonesia and Peru, AP reported. The Army yesterday announced it had suspended biological-weapon transfers Aug. 8 to conduct a similar review and lifted the freeze Aug. 14 after putting new security rules in place. The Air Force said its inventory of dangerous biological agents is also fully in place.  The service’s two facilities with biological-weapon agents has only received two shipments containing such material in the last six years and they have sent none in that time, said Air Force spokesman Maj. Richard Johnson. The audits have also looked for workers erroneously excluded from the Personnel Reliability Program, a system that requires employees to submit to background checks, drug tests, and medical and work performance reviews with input from managers, colleagues and additional participants (Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, Aug. 21). Back to top

Anniston Marks Five-Year Anniversary Five years after beginning to destroy U.S. chemical weapons at an Anniston, Ala., storage depot, officials are starting to plan for the future of the project’s workers, the Anniston Star reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 4). “There have been a lot of discussions in town and at the site about finishing [the job],” said project manager Tim Garrett.  “The reality is we’ve got about 1,000 people working themselves out of a job.” Since beginning operations on Aug. 9, 2003, the facility has incinerated more than 320,000 chemical weapons, including all GB nerve agent and 81 percent of VX-filled weapons.  Crews are preparing to destroy mustard weapons after the VX munitions are completed in the near future, all while keeping an eye on safety, Garrett said. “We’re always within one eyelash of something going wrong,” he said. Garrett did not offer a firm prediction for when all the site’s weapons would be destroyed, but said officials were aiming for April 2012 (Nick Cenegy, Anniston Star I, Aug. 21). Meanwhile, no community members showed up for a public hearing last night to discuss site operator plans to conduct a test burn of mustard agent.  The meeting had been announced the day before, and the public was given until the end of today to submit comments (see GSN, Aug. 21; Nick Cenegy, Anniston Star II, Aug. 22). Back to top       Mustard Leak Uncovered at Umatilla Chemical Depot Crews at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon yesterday detected a trace mustard agent leak during a routine inspection of a storage unit containing tanks of the agent, the Tri-City Herald reported (see GSN, July 18). A passive filter system prevented the blister agent from escaping out of the storage igloo, and workers installed a powered filter system as an additional safety measure.  The leak was not dangerous to the public or surrounding environment, depot spokesman Bruce Hendrickson said. Depot workers plan to locate, decontaminate and fix the leaking bulk container (Mary Hopkin, Tri-City Herald, Aug. 21). Back to top       Iraqi Kurds Call for Execution of “Chemical Ali” The largely Kurdish population of Iraq’s northern Sulaimaniya province yesterday called for the "swift execution" of the man known as “Chemical Ali” in a letter to local and national government figures, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said Thursday (see GSN, June 9). Ali Hassan al-Majid was sentenced to death last year for ordering use of chemical weapons in the killing of thousands of ethnic Iraqi Kurds during the Anfal campaign of the late 1980s, United Press International reported. The "mercenary chiefs who aided the ousted Baath regime in the Anfal operation against the Kurds (should) be brought to justice," states the letter, which also demands reimbursement for relatives of those killed in the campaign (United Press International, Aug. 21). Back to top

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