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U.S. Response: Bush Signs Bioterrorism Package By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire U.S. President George W. Bush last week signed into law a bioterrorism response package that, among other things, will pay for procuring a nationwide stockpile of smallpox vaccine and create a nationwide system to monitor for deadly disease outbreaks. The bioterrorism legislation, passed by the House and Senate in December, was contained in the defense appropriations bill (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2001). The language appropriates altogether nearly $3 billion, mostly for local health and first responders to improve surveillance, investigations, and response. Among its major provisions are $865 million for training and other support of local responders and medical personnel; $593 million to increase the pharmaceutical stockpile and to expand research and development; $512 million for production of a national smallpox vaccine supply (see GSN, Nov. 27, 2001); $494 million to improve government food safety inspections; and $85 million for expanding research on vaccines and anti-viral agents. Experts have pointed to a need for such spending (see GSN, Nov. 5, 2001), including increased spending on first responders, following the September and October anthrax letter mailings last year. Also, up to $10 million was appropriated for creating and maintaining an inventory of dangerous pathogens. The bill also appropriates more than $400 million to help hospitals prepare for surges of victims, to upgrade the Centers for Disease Control and National Institute of Health’s lab capacities and for federal response efforts. “This is a major victory in making our nation safer from the threat of bioterrorism. This plan will go a long way toward boosting the efforts of our health care officials who are our front line of defense in this fight,” said Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), an original co-sponsor, in a statement released after the signing. Bioterrorism prevention language also was signed in a separate bill, the annual foreign operations spending bill, last week. It provides $165 million to fund and expand a 5-year-old program designed to combat the spread of infectious diseases in developing countries. The initiative helps give U.S. public health authorities early warnings against deadly and contagious diseases like the Ebola virus and anthrax, said Senator Patrick Leahy (D-N.H.) in a press release.
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