Expert warns that improvement needed on U.S. biodefense
21 July 2011
By Paul Tinder, BioPrepWatch.com
Emergent BioSolutions Inc., held a workshop on bioterrorism on
Wednesday in Washington, D.C., including an overview on the U.S.
approach to bioterrorism prevention led by Dr. Bob Kadlec.
Kadlec served as the special assistant to the president and the
senior director for biodefense policy on the Homeland Security
Council. He was previously the staff director for Senator Richard
Burr's subcommittee on bioterrorism and public health in the 109th
Congress.
During his presentation, Kadlec said that of the four principals
laid out in President Barack Obama's position on bioterrorism on
July 16, 2008, only two of the four principals have been met. Those
two are preventing bioterror attacks, which is supported by the
development of domestic and international policy, and leading an
international effort to diminish the impact of major infectious
disease epidemics, which has been provided for in the budget over
the next six years.
Improvement must be made in the areas of building capacity to
mitigate the consequences of bioterror attacks and accelerating the
development of new vaccines, medicines and production capabilities,
Kadlec said. To improve in these areas, there must be increased
investment in biodefense programs like advanced countermeasure
development.
Full article
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