Veterinarians throw geese into an incinerator after a suspected case of bird flu was discovered in a Macedonian village this week. Critics warned yesterday that a new biodefense bill does little to alleviate the near-term threat from bird flu (Robert Atanasovski/Getty Images). U.S. Senate Committee Approves Vaccine Promotion Legislation By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A key Senate committee yesterday approved legislation that would create a new agency to direct government biological defense research and provide several new types of incentives that proponents say would encourage more private sector investment into countermeasure production (see GSN, Oct. 17). The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved by voice vote the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 despite Democratic objections.  A Senate floor vote could come next week. There is no such legislation in the House. “We must ensure the federal government acts as a partner with the private sector, providing the incentives and protections necessary to bring more and better drugs and vaccines to market faster,” the legislation’s author, Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), said in a statement after the vote...Full Story

Washington Eyes Terrorism Treaty by Year’s End By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.N. terrorism treaty is almost complete and should be presented to countries within the next few months, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told lawmakers yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 22)...Full Story

U.S. Official to Discuss Indian Nuclear Plans U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said he would discuss with Indian officials a plan to separate military and civilian nuclear facilities while visiting New Delhi this week, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 17)...Full Story

	Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Washington Eyes Terrorism Treaty by Year’s End By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.N. terrorism treaty is almost complete and should be presented to countries within the next few months, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told lawmakers yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 22). Nations at the U.N. General Assembly session last month agreed to conclude the treaty within a year. Appearing yesterday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.N. reform, Bolton said terrorism is the top U.S. priority at the world body and the treaty could be ready within months despite some problems. He did not elaborate on the problems. “We’ve been working on that as recently as last week and this week. That document is very close to conclusion,” Bolton said. “There are some significant issues that remain, but that’s certainly one of the early products that we hope to have later this fall as a result of the impetus given to it by the recent summit.” U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan indicated no such timetable when he addressed the matter Monday at New York’s Columbia University. “I am ready to provide an updated version of the elements” of the U.N. approach to fighting terrorism, Annan said — “if so requested, when the assembly decides to discuss the issue, but the ball is clearly at the feet of the member states. We need further strong pressure, from them and on them, to push it over the line.” Annan in March laid out five principles for the treaty: dissuading disaffected groups from embracing terrorism, denying terrorists the means to conduct attacks, deterring countries from supporting terrorists, developing countries’ capacity to prevent terrorism and ensuring human rights are protected during antiterrorism activities. Bolton, a longtime critic of the United Nations who this year became the U.S. envoy to the organization, yesterday praised the Security Council for its adoption last month of Resolution 1624 calling on countries to suppress terrorism, improve border security and “enhance dialogue and broaden understanding among civilizations.” “We thought this was a very important resolution and hopefully a harbinger of additional Security Council work in the very high-priority area of counterterrorism and also counterproliferation,” Bolton said. Countries at last month’s General Assembly session signed the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (see GSN, Sept. 15). They failed to include nuclear disarmament or nonproliferation in the session outcome document. Back to top

University of Hawaii to Manage WMD Terrorism Grant The University of Hawaii will manage a $4.1 federal grant for preparing health professionals to deal with health emergencies such as a terrorist incident involving weapons of mass destruction, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 4). The money will fund creation of the Pacific Emergency Management, Preparedness and Response Information Network and Training Services. “Our goal is to train health professionals in Hawaii, California and U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands,” said principal investigator Ann Sakaguchi. “The target incidents are the wide-ranging threats we face today in the so-called B-NICE groupings,” she said. “These are biological, nuclear, incendiary, chemical and explosives terrorism and other public health emergencies, and our training will enhance the safety of both first responders and the communities they protect” (Associated Press/KPUA.net, Oct. 18). Back to top

U.S. Official to Discuss Indian Nuclear Plans U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said he would discuss with Indian officials a plan to separate military and civilian nuclear facilities while visiting New Delhi this week, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 17). Separating the nuclear programs is a requirement of U.S. plans to exchange nuclear technology with India. “Part of the purpose of my trip to Delhi this week is to work with the Indian government on a plan that will separate civilian and military nuclear (programs and facilities) of India over the coming years,” Burns said yesterday in New York. He added that once India committed to the separation strategy, Congress would be able to change laws that now bar nuclear cooperation with New Delhi. “Once that plan has been clearly enunciated and once it has been committed to by the Indian government, I think it will be a very short time before the United States Congress makes the necessary legislative changes to bring this into being and that would be a very welcome moment indeed,” Burns said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 18). However, U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern that the deal is too permissive. Republicans the deal would have to be changed and that it might fail, Reuters reported today. “Congress is in no mood to go this route. ... I think a combination of Democrats and Republicans will look at the policy issue substantively rather than in a partisan way and they will block the president's efforts,” said one Republican insider. Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), a member of the House International Relations Committee, said the deal contained “long-term implications for U.S. nonproliferation efforts” and that more time was needed to study its consequences (Reuters/New York Times, Oct. 18).   Back to top       Trial of Dutch Nuclear Smuggling Suspect Begins The trial of Dutch citizen Henk Slebos, accused of transferring nuclear technology to former top Pakistani nuclear scientist and proliferator Abdul Qadeer Khan, is expected to begin today, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 7). The operator of Slebos Research BV and another company employee allegedly made five improper shipments of dual-use technology to Khan from 1999 to 2002. Both maintain their innocence.  They face up to six years in prison if convicted, according to AP. Among the items shipped were a barometer, O-rings, 104 pieces of graphite, ball bearings, and 20 kilograms of triethanolamine, which can be used to refine uranium as well as to make cosmetics, AP reported (Associated Press, Oct. 19). Back to top       Iran Likely to Resume Nuclear Talks, ElBaradei Says International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday expressed confidence that Iran would resume negotiations over its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 18). “Things are moving in the right direction,” he said, adding that Tehran was cooperating with international nuclear inspectors and that “third parties” were pressing for a resumption of negotiations (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 18). Meanwhile, South Korea was today attempting to determine whether Iran had banned imports from the country in retaliation for Seoul’s backing of and IAEA resolution criticizing Iran last month, AFP reported. Tehran has banned import of products from several nations that supported the resolution — Argentina, the Czech Republic, South Korea and the United Kingdom, the Seoul-based Maeil Business Newspaper reported. “Our government is trying to verify the reported move by the Iranian government through diplomatic channels,” said Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. “The government position is that the Iranian nuclear issue and the South Korean-Iranian economic trade promotion should not be related to each other. It would not be proper if Iran takes such measures citing an attitude by an international agency,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 19). Back to top       Pyongyang Questions U.S. Commitment to Nuclear Deal North Korea yesterday criticized recent U.S. allegations of Pyongyang’s involvement in money laundering and questioned Washington’s commitment to last month’s nuclear disarmament agreement, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 18). Washington in September accused Banco Delta Asia of facilitating distribution of counterfeit currency by North Korea, AP reported (see GSN, Sept. 9). The allegation was “nothing but a version of the trite psychological warfare conducted by the U.S. administration to justify its hostile policy” toward North Korea, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday. “This compels the D.P.R.K. to suspect whether the Bush administration has the willingness to implement the joint statement of the six-party talks or not,” said the spokesman (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 18). Meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to travel to Pyongyang this month to discuss the North’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported yesterday. The visit is expected to occur around Oct. 24, Kyodo News quoted Chinese and North Korean sources as saying. Hu and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are expected to discuss the specific steps Pyongyang will take to disarm, Kyodo reported (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Oct. 18). Back to top

U.S. Senate Committee Approves Vaccine Promotion Legislation By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A key Senate committee yesterday approved legislation that would create a new agency to direct government biological defense research and provide several new types of incentives that proponents say would encourage more private sector investment into countermeasure production (see GSN, Oct. 17). The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved by voice vote the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 despite Democratic objections.  A Senate floor vote could come next week. There is no such legislation in the House. “We must ensure the federal government acts as a partner with the private sector, providing the incentives and protections necessary to bring more and better drugs and vaccines to market faster,” the legislation’s author, Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), said in a statement after the vote. Enacting the bill would mean “that we as a nation are prepared for a variety of threats that include natural, deliberate and accidental threats,” said committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). The bill is intended to add incentives beyond those approved in the “Project Bioshield” law passed last year, which was designed to encourage the private sector to invest in drug and vaccine production where the U.S. government would probably be the only buyer. Burr and others have said the law did not go far enough to encourage private sector investment. Burr, who chairs the committee’s Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Subcommittee, said potential liability exposure and other factors have left companies reluctant to invest in new biodefense and flu countermeasures. Critics say the new bill would do nothing to address the potential near-term threat of a deadly avian flu outbreak and that its provisions could drive up the cost of certain drugs and vaccines and greatly reduce the public’s legal recourse for defective products. “I hope … that people don’t think that this is going to solve the problem of the possible avian flu pandemic that is on our doorstep,” Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said. New Agency, Industry Incentives The bill specifically would create a “Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency” within the Health and Human Services Department.  The new agency would act “as the single point of authority” within the federal government for research and development of medical countermeasures against bioterrorism and natural disease outbreaks.  Burr’s legislation would also provide incentives that proponents said are needed to encourage the biotech and pharmaceutical industries to invest more for drugs and vaccines for biological defense and naturally occurring disease protections.   For instance, the bill would allow Health and Human Services to sign exclusive sales contracts with particular manufacturers for a particular product. It would forbid government purchases of generic versions of such new drugs or vaccines as well as public sales of the products for use as countermeasures. The bill would also provide companies with liability protections for new countermeasures not yet licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, so that a company producing products for epidemics or biodefense could only be sued if the Health and Human Services secretary finds clear and convincing evidence it willfully engaged in misconduct that caused the injury.   The bill would provide rebates or grants to encourage companies to manufacture vaccines, medical countermeasures, and pandemic or epidemic products within the United States and would allow the government to help pay the costs of establishing domestic manufacturing facilities. Burr’s proposal would provide a “limited antitrust exemption” for the Health and Human Services secretary and the BARDA director that would allow them to collaborate and consult with industry on developing new countermeasures. It also would exempt the new agency from standard Freedom of Information Act and Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements for public transparency and would exempt certain federal cost oversight requirements. Less controversially, the bill also would compensate first responders for countermeasures they purchase and would provide money to encourage development of animal models on which countermeasures could be tested against diseases too dangerous to test on humans. Doesn’t Address Flu Threat, Democrats Say Committee Democrats said they support the general aims of the bill and many of its provisions, including creating the new agency.  Democrats said, though, that the bill — targeted at longer-term research and development — does little to improve the country’s near-term preparedness for responding to an avian flu outbreak.   That would include funding the stockpile of antibiotic drugs and improving the public health infrastructure and surge capacity. “Congress may wait for regular ordeals to deal with the pandemic flu, but the flu virus will not wait while we delay,” said Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). “We need the capacity to develop the vaccines now. We need to appropriate money now,” Harkin said. “We need emergency funding right now, probably to the tune of several billion dollars to begin to get grants out there right now … to build the vaccine manufacturing facilities for flu vaccines. … We need to get these facilities built in the next six or seven months.” Burr said including such provisions in the bill would have greatly delayed the measure. He said there is “ample time” to prepare such legislation and that the committee would soon begin work on it for passage next year. Other Objections Democrats said they also objected to how the liability provisions were written. Company liability protections should only apply when a product is used in an emergency, and not for other situations, Harkin said. Kennedy said the liability protections should be accompanied by a “strong [federal] compensation program” in the bill, because “the rules should not be stacked against patients.” Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) criticized the market exclusivity provision for preventing public sale of generic versions of new drugs and vaccines for use as countermeasures against dangerous diseases. Clinton praised the proposed agency creation as “a good idea,” but asked how it, as a coordinating agency, would “have more direct control than all the other coordinating positions have had.” Chairman Enzi said the committee would try to address Democrats’ concerns by possibly amending the bill, but said mutually agreed upon changes would be made by Thursday at the latest. There remain “fundamental differences” between Republicans and Democrats “that we have to work out,” Burr said. Democrats said they might seek to amend the bill on the Senate floor. Some nongovernmental organizations have taken a harsher view of the bill’s implications than the committee Democrats. It “basically eradicates regulatory safeguards against the production of unsafe vaccines, drugs and devices that the government determines to be for pandemic, epidemic or bioterrorism/security countermeasure use, and then wipes out liability for any drug company or health care provider that makes or dispenses them,” the Center for Justice and Democracy in New York said in a recent press release. As a result of the liability provision, the advocacy group said, families or victims of defective countermeasures could “have no recourse, no ability to file a claim or lawsuit, no way to collect any compensation even if the drug company or health care provider was negligent, reckless or in some cases intentionally harmful.” Back to top       Court Allows Anthrax Libel Suit to Proceed Former U.S. Army scientist Steven Hatfill can move forward with his libel lawsuit charging the New York Times with wrongly connecting him to the 2001 anthrax mailings, a U.S. appeals court ruled yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 19). Hatfill sued the Times for columns written in 2002 by Nicholas Kristof critical of the FBI’s investigation of the attacks. Hatfill, whom federal authorities called a “person of interest” in the case, was identified by name in the columns once he denied involvement. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not produce a majority decision, which affirms an earlier decision by a three-judge court panel to let the case move forward. A court in Alexandria, Va., will now hear the case unless the Times appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. “The panel's decision in this case will restrict speech on a matter of vital public concern. The columns at issue urged government action on a question of grave national import and life-or-death consequences,” Judge Harvie Wilkinson III wrote in the dissenting opinion.  Wilkinson argued that Kristof’s columns “do not pin guilt” on Hatfill but urge the FBI to investigate an “undeniable public threat.” Hatfill’s lawyer said his client was appreciated the court’s ruling. “The press is entitled to report on important issues. But it has the obligation to get it right,” attorney Tom Connolly said (Michael Felberbaum, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 19). Back to top       Singapore Passes Law Regulating Biological Agents Singapore’s Parliament yesterday passed a bill giving the government authority to set up a regulatory framework for the handling and trade of dangerous biological agents, Channel News Asia reported (see GSN, April 12). Those who violate the new Biological Agents and Toxins Bill could face a $1 million fine and life imprisonment. The law also covers bioterrorism and safe laboratory practices, according to CNA. “It will enhance Singapore's international standing as a country with adequate infrastructure and systems in place to ensure the safety of workers in [the] biomedical industry,” said Balaji Sadasivan, senior minister of state, information, communications and arts. “The proposed bill will address pertinent issues related to laboratory safety and the risk of laboratory-acquired infections, and the security of biological agents and toxins that have potential to be used as agents of terror.” Under the law, facilities that handle toxins or agents that could be used as a bioweapon will be designated as protected places. Each facility must appoint a biosafety committee and coordinator to ensure that it is well maintained, proper security measures are in place and the staff is properly trained, according to CNA.  The bill also regulates five toxins and 93 biological agents in Singapore laboratories. Handling of these materials must be improved under the law, with a $5,000 fine and six-month prison term for violations, CNA reported (Channel News Asia/Yahoo!News, Oct. 18). Back to top

Iran Charges Hussein With Chemical Weapons Use Tehran yesterday said it had submitted to the Iraqi government an indictment against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, charging him with genocide, use of chemical weapons and other crimes against the people of Iran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 26). “The indictment has been sent through the Foreign Ministry. I presume it has been received,” said Iranian Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad. “The plaintiff is the entire Iranian nation. The crimes have affected all families,” he added, pledging, “in [the] future other documents about these crimes will be submitted.” Karimi-Rad said the indictment was the result of much study of Iranian intelligence and armed forces archives. He described it as “the people of Iran versus Saddam and his collaborators.” Complaints include “bombing schools, mosques, houses, and using chemical weapons ... genocide, crimes against humanity, violating international conventions such [as] those of Geneva and The Hague … violating all Islamic and ethical principles” and “killing clerics, women, children and innocent people.” Hussein, whose trial began today (see GSN, Oct. 18), is also expected to face charges in Iran that he used chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabja in March 1988, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/IranMania.com, Oct. 18).   Back to top

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