Anthrax:  FBI Begins Draining Maryland Pond in Anthrax Attack Investigation

The FBI announced today that it has begun to drain a pond near Frederick, Md., as part of the bureau’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax mail attacks (see GSN, May 30).

“The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service are conducting forensic searches on public land located near the city of Frederick, Maryland,” the FBI said in a press release.  “To facilitate the search activity, one pond will be drained,” it added (FBI release, June 9).

The area surrounding the 1-acre, 50,000-gallon pond will remain classified and restricted during the investigation, the city of Frederick said in a press statement today.  This stage of the bureau’s investigation is set to last up to four weeks, after which the FBI will fully restore the pond and surrounding area, according to the Frederick release.

The FBI is unsure as to how long it will take to drain the pond, bureau spokeswoman Debbie Weierman told Global Security Newswire today. 

A set of ponds located in the Maryland forest has been a focus of the FBI’s investigation into the attacks since late last year when the bureau first searched the ponds using divers.  The Washington Post reported last month that those pond searches uncovered several pieces of laboratory equipment, including what could be a box that would allow someone to manipulate material inside it while wearing gloves (Mike Nartker, GSN, June 9).

The searches also discovered a piece of rope, which investigators initially believed could have been used to anchor the box in the pond, USA Today reported last week.  Initial tests indictating traces of anthrax on the rope were later reversed, according to USA Today (Toni Locy, USA Today, May 28).

The stretch of forest where the pond being drained is located is near the former home of Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biologist who has been the public focus of the FBI’s investigation into the anthrax attacks.  Hatfill has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks (Nartker, GSN).

Postal Service Delays Detection Equipment Tests

Meanwhile, the Postal Service has decided to delay tests in 14 cities of new anthrax-detection equipment, CNN.com reported May 30 (see GSN, May 27). 

The tests were originally scheduled to begin June 2.  More time is needed, however, to work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local authorities in the test cities to develop guidelines for responding to test results, postal Vice President Azeezaly Jaffer said.  No new date for the tests has been announced (CNN.com, May 30).

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U.S. Response:  Official Urges Funding for Project Bioshield

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official today encouraged Congress to fund Project Bioshield, the Bush administration plan to spur biological weapons vaccine research, development and procurement (see GSN, May 23).

A House bill proposed by the White House, the Project Bioshield Act, would authorize $5.6 billion in funds to be spent over 10 years to induce the U.S. pharmaceutical industry to increase investment in vaccines and treatments for biological weapons diseases through multiyear authorization of funding and liability-limiting provisions (see GSN, April 7).

“The intent of asking for mandatory funding is to provide assurance to big industry that large dollar amounts would be there,” according to Philip Russell, senior adviser for vaccine development and production in the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Public Health and Preparedness.

In using the term “mandatory,” Russell was referring to bill language designating the $5.6 billion as a “special reserve fund,” from which the homeland security secretary could draw through 2013 to procure vaccines and other medical products after declaring a state of emergency.

He told a conference here today that the purchase of vaccines and drugs would require “very large numbers” of dollars, so “we opted for mandatory funding because we thought it was the best way to assure industry that we were truly serious and that the money would be there.”

The bill, notably, would permit the homeland security secretary to declare a national emergency and authorize release of a drug or device not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in an emergency, would provide government compensation for injuries resulting from smallpox vaccinations, and would guarantee procurement of certain vaccines.

The House Government Reform Committee approved a version of the legislation last month and the bill will now be considered by the Homeland Security Committee.  A Senate version awaits floor action. 

The legislation has been criticized by some lawmakers who have questioned the need and the wisdom of atypical multiyear funding authority, and whether the bill’s focus on developing vaccines and drugs for anthrax, smallpox and botulinum toxin might drive potential terrorists to focus on agents that cause other diseases.

The Congressional Budget Office, furthermore, published a report in April concluding the bill’s cost could actually be $2.5 billion more than the $5.6 billion the Bush administration has estimated and the bill would authorize (see GSN, May 9).

DynPort Vaccine Company, attending the conference, provided a chart showing that most progress has been made developing vaccines for smallpox and anthrax, which are considered by officials to be the potentially most dangerous bioterrorism diseases.  Two anthrax vaccines are available in the U.S. stockpile and a smallpox vaccine and treatment for complications should be ready in three to four years, it indicated.

The chart indicated the length of time it takes to develop, test and bring a vaccine into production.  Vaccines for plague, tularemia, botulinum toxin, and multivalent Venezuelan equine encephalitis, and a next generation anthrax vaccine, are in the technology development stage, which could last four to eight years before moving into a system development and demonstration phase prior to production that could take three to four years, it said.

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