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HHS offers legal shield to anthrax manufacturers, distributors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers legal shield to manufacturers and distributors of anthrax vaccines and treatments under a “public health emergency” to be in effect until the end of 2015
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Briefly noted
Online “passports” to make Chinese foods safer… Top U.K. prosecutor warns against growing state power… France may buy Reaper UAVs
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Restaurants are a weak link in the food safety chain
The Congressional Research Service issues a major study of agroterrorism; one problem is that public eating places are exceedingly vulnerable to bioterror attack
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Unsettling lack of security at Level 4 Biosafety Labs
Biosafety labs (BSLs) handle the world’s most dangerous agents and diseases; only BSL-4 labs can work with agents for which no cure or treatment exists; there are five BSL-4 labs in the United States, and GAO conducted a study of these labs’ perimeter security; you are not going to like what the GAO found
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U Kentucky researchers demonstrate milk transportation safety system
Wildcats researchers develop a milk tracking system which will dramatically improve the safety of bulk milk transport
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Letter carriers may deliver antibiotics during bioterror attack
The task of delivering medications to citizens during a bioterror attack may fall to volunteer mailmen (and mailwomen); trial in St. Paul
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DARPA seeks ultrasonic tourniquets
New device, placed on the arm or a leg of an injured soldier or first responder will use ultrasound scanning to pinpoint internal bleeding, before focusing “high-power energy” on the bleed sites
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Detroit airport to offer germ-free security checkpoints
Worried about microbes, bacteria, and fungi released at airport security checkpoints as travelers take off their shoes and place their belongings in a tray? At Detroit Metro Airport’s new North Terminal you will not have to worry, with the application of new anti-microbial treatment
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EU bans baby food with Chinese milk
Twenty-two Chinese dairies used industrial additive melamine in their products; 54,000 Chinese babies were sickened, 4 died, and more than 10,000 are still hospitalized; 27-nation EU bans baby food with Chinese milk
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California tells residents not to flush pharmaceuticals
In an effort to limit the contamination of drinking water with pharmaceuticals, California launches “No Drugs Down the Drain Week”
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China milk poisoning cases rise
The number of Chinese children sickened by milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine reaches 53,000; 13,000 children remain hospitalized; 22 Chinese companies implicated
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Briefly noted
Debating whether DHS should have cybersecurity responsibilities… FDA revisits refused foods issue… DoD tests contractors’ ID cards
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Chinese dairies add organic base found in plastics and resins to products
Lab tests in Hong Kong find that Chinese company’s dairy offerings, including milk, ice cream, and yogurt, were contaminated with melamine — an organic base usually found in plastics and resins, and banned in food
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Senators skeptical about FBI's anthrax attacks conclusions
Senators of both voice doubt about the FBI’s conclusion that Bruce Ivins was the sole culprit in the 2001 anthrax attacks; criticize the FBI for its handling of the case
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Two more avian flu deaths in Indonesia
Of the 137 confirmed cases of avian flu to date in Indonesia, 112 have been fatal; two deaths in July have been added to the list
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