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Legislation to Improve Biological Attack Readiness Tops U.S. Senate Committee’s Agenda
U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said his panel this year would press efforts this year to strengthen U.S. biological defense efforts, according to the Biodefense Funding Report (see GSN, Oct. 19, 2005). The senator said the drug industry must work to create new countermeasures to safeguard U.S. citizens. “Though we've made remarkable strides to identify our nation's weaknesses, the fact remains that there are still holes in our biological defense that must be filled to ensure the safety of public health as well as national security,” Enzi said. Filling these gaps will be the “No. 1 priority” for the panel’s Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.). The committee hopes to pass Project Bioshield II, which would provide tax incentives for companies to research and develop countermeasures; intellectual property and patent protections; and liability shields to companies that manufacture vaccines. The last committee action on the legislation was a round-table discussion in July 2005 (Biodefense Funding Report, Feb, 14).
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