U.S. readiness for bioterror attacks has raised justifiable alarm bells, from the "Dark Winter" smallpox outbreak simulation, to New York's slow response to the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak, to the Denver results for Operation Top-Off 2000's "Ten Days in May" exercise.
Not to mention the kind of stories told in Miller, Englebert & Broad's highly-recommended non-fiction book "Germs." Or Richard Preston's amazingly influential novel "Cobra Event".
Action is now beginning in earnest, but progress is slow. President Bush recently signed the "Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001." Key provisions include:
- $640 million to produce and stockpile smallpox vaccines
- Expanded availability of potassium iodide for communities near nuclear plants to treat radiation poisoning in case of terrorist attack
- More money for the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile
- $1.6 billion in grants to states for hospital preparedness and assessments of the vulnerability of local water systems
I don't think so.
For starters, the bill left out a very useful and sorely-needed idea that Winds of Change has already discussed: a molecular fingerprinting facility.
Beyond that, this bill is missing too many components of an effective bioweapons defense effort.
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