Zapruder Inc.

The battle of the biolab: Massive Increase in Funds for Biodefense Research and Development (2007)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+battle+of+the+biolabs.-a0163051142

Increased funding for biodefense research and development, the international posture of the Bush administration, and the expansion of Bio Security Level (BSL (language) BSL - A variant of IBM’s PL/S systems language. Versions: BSL1, BSL2. ) 4 labs raise suspicions of an illegal bioweapons program. To clarify, BSL 4 labs are the highest level of containment facilities. At these, research takes place on dangerous and/or exotic agents that have a high risk of causing life-threatening disease, a hazard of aerosol-transmitted infection in the lab, or agents that have an unknown risk of transmission.

America the beautiful’s germ warfare rash. (2007)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/America+the+beautiful’s+germ+warfare+rash.-a0166051075

Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has spent at least $44 billion on biological “defense” without ever making made a true needs assessment. In the early 1990s the Kremlin shut down their huge, Soviet-era germ warfare operation and, while Israel, Iran, and North Korea are known to have biological weapons research facilities and India, China, and Cuba are said to be building high-security labs to study lethal bacteria and viruses, these initial or potential programs are disproportionately behind the massive efforts underway in the United States. In the words of Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin, Texas-based group that tracks research involving biological agents: “Our biowarfare research is defending ourselves from ourselves. It’s a dog chasing its tail.”

Germ warfare: agencies scramble to create vaccine market. (2007)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Germ+warfare+agencies+scramble+to+create+vaccine+market.-a0165192805

When anthrax was delivered to Capitol Hill and media outlets in envelopes in 2001, the prospect of a widespread biological attack became real to the U.S. government. For Jay Cohen, undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology division, it’s the possibility of a biological attack that keeps him up at night. While nuclear or radiological weapons require a significant capital and physical investment to develop, “in today’s genomic world, students with microscopes have the potential to develop biological weapons,” he said in an interview with National Defense.

The relative simplicity of deploying a deadly biological agent has prompted the government to seek technological solutions from the private sector. In the aftermath of the anthrax attacks, contractors predicted that a robust biodefense industrial complex would emerge. But so far the market has lagged, experts say. Eleven government agencies now work on biodefense. Several offices within these agencies award contracts and grants to universities and public health organizations to prepare for biological attack.

Biodefense experts: vaccines ‘at a crossroads’ (2005)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biodefense+experts+vaccines+’at+a+crossroads’.-a0138538208

A budding U.S. biodefense industry--working largely without the major pharmaceutical companies--is working on medical countermeasures intended to treat deadly agents. But many of the companies seeking government funds for biodefense work are small firms with no experience in bringing a drug to market. They face a significant challenge. “I see an emerging new industry, new capabilities” in the medical biodefense field, says Vidadi M. Yusibov, executive director of the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology in Newark, Del., who oversees work on vaccines and therapeutics administered in edible plants.Ninety-five U.S. companies are working on vaccines or therapeutics to combat bioweapons, according to a 2005 report by BioAbility

Intelligence Estimate Warns Al Qaeda Still Seeking Chem/Bio Weapons; America Remains Unprepared Says PharmAthene CEO David Wright (2007)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Intelligence+Estimate+Warns+Al+Qaeda+Still+Seeking+Chem+Bio+Weapons;...-a0166813575

While much has been accomplished to protect America from a terrorist attack with a biological weapon, we remain unprepared, according to PharmAthene CEO David Wright. “The recent National Intelligence Estimate is yet another clarion call for America to redouble its efforts to protect against CBR weapons,” said David Wright. “Despite repeated warnings, we still are not adequately prepared for an attack.”

Biodefense shield and avian influenza (2006)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biodefense+shield+and+avian+influenza.-a0145927300

To the Editor: In defending against avian influenza virus H5N1, the possibility of adopting treatments being developed for biodefense should not be overlooked. Biodefense medicine primarily concerns respiratory infections because bioweapons in their deadliest form disperse Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia pestis, the causes of anthrax and plague, and highly contagious viruses like smallpox, Ebola, and Marburg as aerosols. The National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense have funded developing novel biodefense medications designed to stimulate innate mucosal immunity by using interferons (IFNs) and interferon inducers. We suggest that studies begin immediately to explore the potential of IFNs to prevent infections and reduce deaths caused by avian influenza viruses in animal models and humans.

In first large pandemic flu drill, CDC practices for the ‘Big One’ _ a few missteps occur (2007)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/In+first+large+pandemic+flu+drill+CDC+practices+for+the+’Big+One’+_...-a01611347843

This was the Big One a deadly flu epidemic. But fortunately it was a fake. So when U.S. health officials made some missteps in their largest-ever drill to prepare for a national outbreak of a deadly new flu, no one died. Some information was wrong because people misstated facts as they passed them on, like a game of telephone gone slightly awry. Some information was classified, so some key public health experts didn’t have all the facts.

Agent Green--The US Leads Efforts to Use Biological Weapons in the War on Drugs (2001)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Agent+Green--The+US+Leads+Efforts+to+Use+Biological+Weapons+in+the...-a080073442

“Agent Green” is a phrase currently used to refer to at least two different fungi, called “mycoherbicides.” The United States government wants to use these fungi in its “War on Drugs.” The US denies the categorization of these organisms as “biological weapons,” preferring to call them “biological controls” and noting that under the United Nations’ Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, they are legitimate if they are approved by the government of the land in which they are used.

The first Agent Green fungus is Fusarium oxysporum, a family of “wilting” fungi whose species attack everything from corn and cotton to basil to watermelon. The anti-coca. fungus species, Fusarium Oxysporumn f. sp. Erythroxyli, was discovered accidentally when it wiped out a test plot of coca being grown in Hawaii. From that strain, the US Department of Agriculture developed the strain “Isolate EN-4,” which is supposed to attack only the coca plant, and which the US and UN want to spray extensively in Colombia.

Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War (2002)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Germs+Biological+Weapons+and+America’s+Secret+War.-a094011339

These writers from the New York Times blend their expertise in foreign policy, national security, and science to present an overview of the availability of biological weapons to governments and terrorists, the weapons’ potential for harm, and the capacity of the United States to repel or perhaps implement biological attacks. An international treaty signed in 1972 banned biological arms. However, as reported here, the Soviet Union subsequently beefed up its arsenal. With the collapse of that nation, Soviet bioweapons scientists began selling their knowledge to other countries, terrorists, and other individuals. Several countries, including the United States, have covertly continued such biological warfare research, as well, the authors say.

U.S Funding Diseas Studies Inside Russian Biowar Labs (1997)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/U.S.+FUNDING+DISEASE+STUDIES+INSIDE+RUSSIAN+LABORATORIES+SCIENTISTS...-a064866373

Russia - The U.S. government is funding research at Russian facilities that only two years ago were top-secret laboratories involved in the production of biological weapons, according to according to U.S. and Russian officials. The pilot program, which has not previously been made public, aims to keep Russian researchers well-employed at home, discouraging them from selling their lethal expertise on the world market. Additionally, U.S. scientists say they hope to use the initiative, which began quietly about eight months ago, to share knowledge gained by Russian scientists who have, for more than 25 years, been testing the limits of such formidable biological threats as ebola, anthrax and shigella.

9,200 uncounted vials found at Army biodefense lab (2009)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/9+uncounted+vials+found+at+Army+biodefense+lab-a01611903039

An inventory of deadly germs and toxins at an Army biodefense lab in Frederick found more than 9,200 vials of material that was unaccounted for An inclusive term (not a casualty status) applicable to personnel whose person or remains are not recovered or otherwise accounted for following hostile action. Commonly used when referring to personnel who are killed in action and whose bodies are not recovered.  in laboratory records, Fort Detrick Fort Detrick is a U.S. Army Medical Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Its 1,200 acres (5 km) support a multi-governmental community that conducts biomedical research and development, medical material officials said Wednesday. The 13 percent overage mainly reflects stocks left behind in freezers by researchers who retired or left Fort Detrick since the biological warfare defense program was established there in 1943, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Operation Bacterium (1985)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Operation+bacterium.-a03838424

It would have been hard to pick them out of a crowd: average-looking men walking through Washington’s National Airport, carrying suitcases. But the men were agents of the United States Army, charged with preserving peace and security and defending the nation. The first regular U.S. fighting force, the Continental Army, was organized by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, to supplement local , and the suitcases were something out of a James Bond movie--disguised atomizers which imperceptibly sprayed unsuspecting travelers with a bacteria-laden mist. The undercover operation, which took place in 1964-65, was part of a nationwide program of so-called ‘vulnerability’ testing designed to gauge the impact of an enemy-launched epidemic of smallpox.

For 20 years ending in 1969, the Army staged hundreds of these secret germ ‘attacks’ in a number of cities, using microorganisms the Pentagon claimed were harmless to humans. It wasn’t until 1977, during a hearing before the Senate, that civilian experts suggested that vulnerability testing may have caused outbreaks of disease which occured in some of the test areas.

Biological warfare facility debated (1988)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biological+warfare+facility+debated.-a06406007

The U.S. Army last week released a draft environmental impact statement for its proposed construction of a controversial, state-of-the-art biological warfare research facility in Utah. The report concludes that there is “no cause for concern” that hazardous biological materials might be inadvertently released from the laboratory. Opponents immediately criticized the report as inadequate and threatened to sue the Army if it tries to go ahead with its plans for the $5.4 million “biological aerosol facility.” The Army’s latest report is itself the result of a lawsuit it lost in 1985. In that case, initiated by the Foundation on Economic Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group, a U.S. District Court ruled that the Army’s original environmental assessment did not sufficiently address the potential risks of operating such a facility (SN: 6/8/85, p.359).

Biological warfare research under fire (1987)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biological+warfare+research+under+fire.-a04726625

The Department of Defense and its growing efforts in biological-warfare research may have hit a snag last week, when the federal agency agreed to submit its collection of biological warfare research programs to far-reaching environmental impact studies. Agreement to conduct the studies, which are expected to take nearly two years to complete, settles a lawsuit brought against the agency last September by an environmental action group based in Washington, D.C. The Foundation of Economic Trends claimed in its suit that the government was violating the National Environmental Policy Act by not assessing the biological warfare program’s effect on the environment. The compromise accepted by both parties last week does not ascribe guilt to DOD; it also allows research to continue during the impact studies.

Foot & Mouth Outbreak GM Vaccine and Biowarfare (2002)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Foot+Mouth+Outbreak+GM+Vaccine+and+Biowarfare+Biodevastation.-a081762530

The foot and mout disease outbreak in the UK has gone on for the best part of a year, with no sign of ending. More than 3.8 million livestock have been culled since February. It has cost an estimated 27 billion and untold hardship for family farmers and small businesses. The UK Government has persistently refused to allow the animals to be vaccinated, instead of the massive cullings that have sickened the public in more ways than one.

Pentagon poised to resume open-air testing of biological weapons (2008)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pentagon+poised+to+resume+open-air+testing+of+biological+weapons.-a0179991665

The Pentagon has denied President Bush issued a directive for it to resume open-air testing of chemical and biological agents that were halted by President Richard Nixon in 1969. Yet, the Pentagon’s stated preparations make it appear it is poised to do just that. Spokesperson Chris Isleib did not respond to a request for comment on a passage from the Defense Department’s annual report sent to Congress last April that suggests the Pentagon is gearing up to resume the tests. Resumption of open-air testing would reverse a long-standing moratorium adopted after a public outcry against them following accidents in the Sixties. The Pentagon’s annual report apparently calls for both the developmental and operational “field testing of (CBW) full systems,” not just simulations.

South Africa: Did this man ‘kill blacks big time’? (2001)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Did+this+man+’kill+blacks+big+time+Special+report+South+Africa.-a080786260

The horrifying tale of Dr Wouter Basson’s campaign trail of death has been unfolding in the Pretoria High Court since 4 October 1999 when his trial began. He faces 46 charges ranging from murder to fraud and drug dealing arising from his role as head of the chemical and biological warfare, employment in war of microorganisms to injure or destroy people, animals, or crops; also called germ or bacteriological warfare. Limited attempts have been made in the past to spread disease among the enemy; e.g.  programme of the apartheid South African government. One of his former colleagues has said Basson “killed the blacks big time”, but the army doctor has denied everything in court without calling as much as a single witness in his defence. In contrast, the prosecution called nearly 200 witnesses over two years. Basson finished his sole-witness testimony on 26 September, spending two months in the dock. We have an 18-page “special report” here on the trial. Please have a seat as this could knock you off your feet. It’s truly mind boggling.

His real name is Dr Wouter Basson, but South Africans call him “Dr Death”. He is 50, and a decorated army brigadier. In civilian life, he is an eminent cardiologist. To some supporters of the old apartheid order, he is even a hero. As the head of the apartheid regime’s clandestine chemical and biological warfare programme codenamed “Project Coast”, he is alleged to have “killed the blacks big time”.

Porton Down: Research Base with a Dark Past (2008)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Research+base+with+a+dark+past-a01611538093

Founded in 1916, Porton Down is the oldest chemical warfare research installation in the world. Until the 1950s it developed chemical weapons such as mustard gas mustard gas, chemical compound used as a poison gas in World War I. The burning sensation it causes on contact with the skin is similar to that caused by oil from black mustard seeds.  and nerve gas nerve gas, any of several poison gases intended for military use, e.g., tabun, sarin, soman, and VX. Nerve gases were first developed by Germany during World War II but were not used at that time. . It also devised biological weapons, chiefly anthrax bombs. Today, Porton’s main task is to develop equipment to shield the armed forces against chemical and biological weapons.

From dart guns to germ aerosols, U.S. Army researched biowarfare (2004)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/From+dart+guns+to+germ+aerosols+U.S.+Army+researched+biowarfare.-a0122436100

Biowarriors During the height of the Cold War, the United States tested the nation’s vulnerability to covert germ warfare and devised biological weapons to use against its enemies. They designed deadly, silent biological dart guns and hid them in fountain pens and walking sticks. They compressed lethal bacteria into suit buttons that could be worn unnoticed across borders. They rigged light fixtures and car tailpipes to loose an invisible spray of anthrax. They practiced germ attacks in airports and on the New York subway, tracking air currents and calculating the potential death toll. But they weren’t a band of al-Qaida fanatics, or enemies of any kind. They were biowarriors in the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick.

Dugway Proving Ground: Neighbors bugged by germ warfare lab (1988)
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Neighbors+bugged+by+germ+warfare+lab.-a06623189

The Army is facing unexpectedly fierce opposition to its plans to build a laboratory in Utah for conducting experiments with deadly germ warfare agents. Recent public hearings held near the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, where the laboratory would be located, and in Salt Lake City, 70 miles away, were attended almost exclusively by citizens and public officials opposed to the proposed biological aerosol facility. The hearings followed the February release of a draft environmental impact statement concluding that there is “no cause for concern” that dangerous biological agents might escape from the laboratory.