Posted by Alla Katsnelson

[Entry posted at 29th October 2008 04:39 PM GMT]

LINK

Self (inflicted) defense can up risk
By The Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
- 11/23/08

Two clear facts shine from the clouded mystery of anthrax attacks on America and our government?s tenuous claim seven years later of closing the case with the suicide of a suspect.
Fact No. 1: Government warnings about anthrax being a weapon of mass destruction were false. Somebody dispersed the most lethal strain our tax dollars can produce ? weapons-grade or near enough ? via the U.S. Postal Service, exposing tens of millions of people, yet managed to infect 22. Five died. But from anthrax vaccination, at least 21 died and thousands reported a wide range of illnesses.

Fact No. 2: If FBI accusations against their prime suspect in the 2001 attack are true, it means billions of dollars taxpayers invested on the premise of prevention actually increased the risk.

When senior biodefense researcher Bruce Ivins died from an overdose of Tylenol 3 after being identified as sole suspect, our central
government declared the crime solved.

However, co-workers at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick say the actions attributed to Ivins over the time the government claims are scientifically impossible.

This is going to be another never-healing wound in America?s body of unsolved mysteries.

But mystery should not distract us from the truth. Our government?s response to bioweapons is raising the danger level from them.

Think it through, citizens. The very vaccination program intended to thwart anthrax apparently sickened and killed more people than an actual mass attack.

After the 2001 attack, our government hurled $41 billion at bioterror with no real coordination or study. High-level labs multiplied threefold. A dozen agencies exponentially increased the number of facilities and workers handling pathogens. Now we have more than 15,000 potential Bruce Ivins.

Meanwhile, our leaders provided no adequate increase in oversight, coordination, training, security, surveillance, testing, background checks or psychological screening.

Statistically, something going horribly wrong now approaches sure thing. That is not just a threat to residents of Frederick, Bethesda and other communities. It is, as the spread of anthrax spores proved, a threat to the whole world.

We learned in 2001 the actual danger from anthrax was lower than vaccine.

But these biohazard labs grow a lot more dangerous pathogens than anthrax. The next one to get out could kill millions.

President Bush must immediately halt programs until we can impose coordinated oversight, then assess security and capacity needs.

We must not let self-defense become self-inflicted catastrophe.


Link to GAO reports
LINK High-Containment Biosafety Laboratories
LINK Issues Associated with Expansion

Read the vaccine series
LINK Scientific impossibility
LINK Sickening results
LINK Costly program
LINK Pentagon responds

Here below is a 17-year old news report, which did not attract even a fraction of the attention that it deserved. I think the "establishment" must have downplayed the gravity of the incident.

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India - Atomic lab flooded [K.S. Jayaraman, Nature 352 (25 July 1991) 272]
Muddy rain water from heavy rains entered the basement of a half-kilometre laboratory block damaging valuable equipment. The Modular Laboratory – BARC’s main building with offices on the upper floors and laboratories in the basement – was flooded after unprecedented rains on 8th June and landslides from a nearby hill. The entire basement was under 2? feet of muddy water. Damaged are: Electron Linear Accelerator, several spectrophotometers, and a uranium laser separator used for producing 30% enriched uranium. R. Chidambaram, Director, says damage is about ₨5 million, but unofficial sources put it as high as ₨100 million. Research in several divisions will be set back by two or three years.
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A hurricane, even a class 5 monster, is probably no more a threat to a secure facility than, say, a major earthquake. On the other hand, Galveston presents an advantage over other locations. Were a pathogen to escape from the facility, it could be quickly contained by shutting down the only two bridges off the island, and preventing boat traffic.