U.S. Orders Botulism Treatment

A Canadian biopharmaceutical company announced yesterday that it had received a $362 million order from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to produce 200,000 doses of a treatment against botulism (see GSN, June 14, 2005).

Cangene Corp. of Winnipeg received the contract through Project Bioshield for the botulinum toxin immune globulin. The company had already begun developing the drug under a previous contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cangene anticipates delivering an unidentified amount of “usable product” to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile by mid-to-late 2007, according to a company press release. It will also seek accelerated approval of the product from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The contract includes additional payment options of up to $234 million for further work, including maintaining product manufacturing, further testing in specific populations, and testing to support the drug’s shelf life.

“We are very pleased that HHS has chosen to continue funding for Cangene to develop this important biodefense product,” John Langstaff, Cangene president and chief executive officer, said in the release. “Botulinum toxins are one of the bioterrorist weapons that has been determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to be a material threat to national security” (Cangene Corp. release, May 31).

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Feds Slash Antiterrorism Funds for D.C., New York

The latest round of U.S. Homeland Security Department terrorism preparedness grants includes major funding reductions for New York City and the Washington, D.C. area, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Jan. 4).

The agency announced yesterday it would distribute $1.7 billion in fiscal 2006 to improve preparedness and response capabilities among states, urban areas and territories. The outlay includes funding for 46 metropolitan regions under the Urban Areas Security Initiative.

The national capital region — which includes the District of Columbia and nearby communities in Maryland and Virginia — received $46 million, down from $77 million in fiscal 2005. Funding for New York City dropped from $207 million to $124 million.

State and local officials quickly expressed their dismay.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Department of Homeland Security and the administration have declared war on New York,” said Representative Peter King (R-N.Y.). “It’s a knife in the back to New York, and I’m going to do everything I can to make them very sorry they made this decision.”

“I think it’s shortsighted for the federal government to cut funds this way,” Washington Mayor Anthony Williams said. “We remain a target area.”

Also hit were San Diego, which experienced a 46-percent funding drop; Phoenix, where the grant level was down by 61 percent; and Boston, which saw a 30-percent reduction. The grant money for New Orleans also dropped from $9.3 million to $4.6 million, the Post reported.

The cuts allowed the department to increase funds for Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, along with smaller cities such as Charlotte, N.C., Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis.

The distribution of terrorism preparedness funds for this fiscal year was based on risk scores, effectiveness tests and advice from 17 panels consisting of homeland security personnel from 47 states.

The review process was intended to ensure that the areas of highest risk received adequate funding, which led experts and government officials to anticipate more grant money for Washington and New York.

An improved review process produced the grant distribution, said Tracy Henke, Homeland Security assistant secretary for grants and training. It is not an indication of reduced danger for large cities, she said.

Such cities still receive the major cut of the program funding, officials said.

“We have to understand that there is risk throughout the nation,” Henke said. “We worked very hard to make sure there was fairness in the process” (Eggen/Sheridan, Washington Post, June 1).

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Iran Wants Talks With U.S. But Refuses Nuclear Freeze

Iran today announced that it wants to accept a U.S. offer of talks on Tehran’s sensitive nuclear activities, but at the same time rejected the condition that it first suspend those efforts, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, May 31).

“We support dialogue in a fair and unbiased atmosphere, but we will not talk about our undeniable and legitimate rights, because this is the right of our people according to international laws and treaties,” said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

“There is no obstacle to negotiate with the United States on an equal footing, with respect and without preconditions, since what is important for us is to secure our nuclear rights,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the offer as “kind of moment of truth for Iran.”

Mottaki complained that Rice’s statement opening the door for direct talks “did not have any new words in it.”

“They have repeated their old, old words. A new solution and a logical solution for the nuclear issue was not seen in the declaration,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese, European, Russian and U.S. foreign ministers gathered today in Vienna for further talks on potential incentives and sanctions for Iran.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said there was “potentially a real opportunity” for an agreement with Iran. She said the international community was “united in seeing this as potentially a real opportunity for Iran and the international community to come to negotiated agreements and solutions.”

The U.S. offer was connected to efforts to persuade China and Russia to consider sanctions if Iran rejects negotiated efforts to end the nuclear standoff.

“This is an important, if not decisive step,” said French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, adding that it was “unity in the international community that will make a difference.”

“Today a real chance has appeared to achieve such a resolution. We call on Iran to respond to it constructively,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We welcome the U.S. gesture to solve the issue through talks,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso expressed “strong expectation that Iran will appropriately respond to this issue for its peaceful and diplomatic solution,” but added that Tokyo was “not at this point considering concrete economic sanctions against Iran.”

Israel also applauded the U.S. offer to engage with Iran, according to AFP (Farhad Pouladi, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 1).

One Iran expert said Tehran’s rejection of U.S. conditions for talks would likely be modified in the coming weeks, USA Today reported.

“I suspect they’ll negotiate over negotiations,” said Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Bush administration said it would wait for an official response from Tehran.

“I hope this is not a real reaction from Iran,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. “I think it’s important that they take a very careful look at what Secretary Rice laid out today because it really is their last chance, in many respects” (Barbara Slavin, USA Today, May 31).

Bush administration officials said they do not expect Tehran to suspend all nuclear activities and characterized the U.S. offer as a test of whether Iran’s priority is on engagement with the West or on developing a nuclear weapons capability, the New York Times reported today.

Some officials involved in the standoff wondered whether failure is the point of the offer — to prove Iran’s unwillingness to compromise.

White House officials on both sides of the issue regarding engaging Iran saw value in “seeking if they are serious,” one senior aide said.

According to one official, President George W. Bush told Rice months ago that he needed “a third option” apart from allowing Iran to become a nuclear power or authorizing military strikes against the nation.

 Rice in May drafted a proposal that included a diplomatic schedule, according to the Times.

“[Vice President Dick] Cheney was dead set against it,” said one former official involved in many of the meetings. “At its heart, this was an argument about whether you could isolate the Iranians enough to force some kind of regime change.”

Three officials involved in the most recent internal debates said Cheney and others backed down.

“It came down to convincing Cheney and others that if we are going to confront Iran, we first have to check off the box” of seeking direct negotiations, said one former official.

Bush characterized the move as a strong U.S. diplomatic gesture.

“I thought it was important for the United States to take the lead, along with our partners, and that’s what you’re seeing. You’re seeing robust diplomacy,” he said.

Richard Haass, head of State Department policy planning during Bush’s first term, expressed skepticism that the new policy would yield fruit.

“It’s true that the conditions are significantly different than they were four or five years ago, but candidly they are not as favorable now for the United States,” he said (David Sanger, New York Times, June 1).

A senior administration official said China and Russia agree to a great extent on the West’s plans for a series of U.N. penalties to be imposed on Iran if it fails to comply with international demands, the Washington Post reported today.

Rice said the United States would not consider restoring diplomatic relations until Tehran agrees to renounce terrorism, among other conditions.

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya said Beijing could support a tougher line with Iran if the West offers Tehran more “attractive carrots,” including security guarantees and a pledge to allow it to pursue a nuclear energy program, including a small-scale uranium enrichment (Fletcher/Kessler, Washington Post, June 1).

Meanwhile, Washington is pressing Tokyo to consider restrictions on financial transactions with Iran should diplomacy fail, Asia Pulse reported today.

Washington has asked Tokyo to consider imposing sanctions under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, according to sources close to the matter. Modified in 2004 to allow for a crackdown on North Korea’s alleged illicit financial activities, the law enables Japan to unilaterally restrict foreign money transfers when necessary for maintaining the peace and security of the country, according to Asia Pulse.

The sanctions would have a substantial effect on Tokyo’s trade with Iran, which supplied 13.8 per cent of all crude oil to Japan last year, Asia Pulse reported (Asia Pulse, June 1).

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North Korea Seeks U.S. Envoy Visit; KEDO to Disband

North Korea today called on the United States to demonstrate its commitment to a joint statement reached at the last round of six-nation nuclear talks by sending the lead U.S. negotiator to Pyongyang, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 26).

“If the U.S. has a true political intention to implement the joint statement, we kindly invite once again the head of the U.S. side’s delegation to the talks to visit Pyongyang and directly explain it to us,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

In September, Pyongyang agreed in principle to end its nuclear weapons development in exchange for energy aid and security guarantees. Negotiations have been stalled since that point.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, chief U.S. negotiator on North Korea’s nuclear program, said he would “consult with our partners” on the invitation.

“But we must emphasize that the problem we face is not for lack of meetings or travel, but rather due to the D.P.R.K.’s unwillingness to participate in the six-party talks and to fulfill their part of the bargain — denuclearization,” Hill told AP by e-mail.

“The U.S. is committed to full implementation of the September agreement and we have said so on many occasions, including directly to the D.P.R.K.,” he said.

Pyongyang, however, blamed the United States for stalling on negotiations.

“The U.S. will never be able to find a way of solving the issue if it is so reluctant to sit with the party directly concerned with the issue, while expressing its intention to seek a negotiated settlement of such crucial issue as the nuclear issue,” the Foreign Ministry announced.

“The U.S. has avoided contacts” with North Korea, although “the six parties agreed on re-energizing the bilateral and multilateral contacts among them to create an atmosphere favorable for” further arms talks, the spokesman said (Burt Herman, Associated Press I/Washington Post, June 1).

Meanwhile, Japan, the European Union, South Korea and the United States yesterday formally ended a long-suspended project to build two light-water nuclear power reactors in North Korea, AP reported. The project was part of the 1994 Agreed Framework that temporarily resolved the North Korean nuclear crisis (Associated Press II/USA Today, May 31).

The formal cancellation of the reactor construction contract means that the institution created to implement the project, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, will no longer have a mission and will disband, said KEDO spokesman David Wallace, who expected all the details of the closure to be wrapped up by the end of the year (Greg Webb, GSN, June 1).

North Korea’s “continued and repeated failure” to cooperate with the international effort to resolve the nuclear standoff resulted in the death of the reactor project, the KEDO executive board said in a statement. The board met yesterday for the first time since November, when the Bush administration persuaded Seoul to join the other members in supporting ending the $4.6 billion project, according to AP.

The board demanded that Pyongyang compensate the agency for the cost of the project. Seoul and Tokyo, its key financial backers, are expected keep some leftover components and equipment that were not sent to North Korea (Associated Press II/USA Today).

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe today said North Korea was solely to blame for the project’s demise, AP reported.

“As North Korea violated the promise I think we can say that the project’s functions have already ceased,” he said.

“I think we can say the significance of the project was already lost,” Abe said. “Since we all shared this view from before, and I don’t think the cancellation of the project will have any impact.”

Abe also encouraged Pyongyang to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks, AP reported (Associated Press III, June 1).

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African Leader Urges Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone

Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji yesterday urged African Union nations to endorse a continent-wide zone free of nuclear weapons, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 25, 2002).

“The African Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty which was adopted in 1996, has not received the required number of ratification by member states to come into force,” Adeniji said. “It is embarrassing that African states who should have been at the forefront to enforce the treaty have failed to ratify it.”

Officials said only 20 of the region’s 53 member states have submitted their instrument of ratification. Eight more states must ratify the pact for it to come into force, according to Reuters.

The treaty prohibits research into nuclear explosive devices and bars dumping of radioactive materials anywhere in Africa (Reuters, May 31).

Africa is the only region in the world to have adopted a nuclear weapons ban that has not been implemented, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council announced in a statement.

The union’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, adopted the Pelindaba Treaty in 1995, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

Latin America, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia have similar treaties in force, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, May 31).

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New Management Takes Over at Los Alamos

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico officially received new management at midnight today, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 20).

The University of California gave way to a group led by the school and Bechtel Corp. The change was forced by security and safety mishaps and other problems at the nuclear weapons laboratory.

“The transition to a new era in the lab’s management is now fully under way,” Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said in a press release. “I hope that as it continues to unfold, the lab’s commitment to the highest quality science in pursuit of the national interest remains as vigorous as it has been in the past” (Associated Press, June 1).

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International Inspectors Visit Russian CW Site

International inspectors in a recent visit determined that the Russian chemical weapons disposal facility at Maradykovsky could begin operations as scheduled this year, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, May 17).

“Eight international inspectors … have visited the industrial installations of the first section of the complex, which is being readied for commissioning, to see how construction jobs were proceeding. They examined the engineering systems of the complex, as well as its safety arrangements, technology lines, working places for international controllers, and the sanitary-protection zone,” said Lyubov Cherezova, head of the Information and Analysis Center. “The inspectors arrived at the conclusion that the complex could be put into operations within the fixed time limits (the second half of 2006).”

Nearly 41,000 bombs and warheads carrying nerve agents are scheduled to be eliminated at Maradykovsky by 2010 (ITAR-Tass, June 1).

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North Korea Reportedly Prepares for Missile Test

Japan and the United States believe North Korea is nearly set to conduct a test launch of its Taepodong 2 long-range missile, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 19).

Japan’s Sankei newspaper cited anonymous sources as saying that Pyongyang is finalizing preparations for the launch.

A Japanese destroyer and aircraft from Japan and the United States have been sent to gather information, according to Sankei.

A Japanese Defense Agency spokeswoman would not comment on the report. She said Tokyo monitors suspicious activities daily (Associated Press/USA Today, June 1).

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