Subject: [Anthrax-no] NY Times article, anthrax vaccine, and biodefense
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 1999 21:11:34 -0400
From: Meryl Nass <mnass@igc.apc.org>
Reply-To: Anthrax-no@onelist.com
To: "Anthrax-no@onelist.com" <Anthrax-no@onelist.com>

From: Meryl Nass <mnass@igc.apc.org>

The following 4/5/99 article from the New York Times says several
interesting things.

1. The Russians made anthrax genetically engineered to resist 5 kinds of
antibiotics (this is easy to do.)

2. It is claimed that 2,000 people (!) specialized in anthrax in the
former Soviet Union, and that 60,000 worked for the various Biopreparat
(BW) centers. Given these numbers, it is inconceivable to me that the
former Soviets did NOT develop anthrax strains which would resist our
vaccines as well as antibiotics.

3. Therefore, as I've said before, the US really needs to rethink its
whole approach to the threat of biowarfare. It is extremely unlikely
that the standard approaches to infectious disease, vaccines and
antibiotics, will be effective against biological agents that have been
developed with any sophistication.

Serious, thoughtful approaches to prevention are desperately needed:
reinforcing treaties, negotiating intensive inspection regimens that
permit unannounced inspections, aggressively developing and sharing
biowarfare "defense" technologies, and truly committing to other
biowarfare "confidence building measures". Tom Rempfer suggests we
restate our doctrine of nuclear deterrence: that may also have a place.

4. The use of anthrax vaccine to "protect" against the effects of
infinite biowarfare agents is at best naive, at worst, a PR scheme
linked with negligence on the part of those tasked with the
responsibility for biowarfare defense.

Meryl Nass



--
Meryl Nass, M.D.
Parkview Hospital, Brunswick, Maine 04011
email mnass@igc.apc.org
phone (207) 865-0875
fax (207) 865-6975

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