Mar
12
Biological terror still a threat?
Filed Under Analysis
CQ Politics | Winnowing Down the Bio Threats
For much of his administration, Bush and homeland security officials said the threat of rogue scientists or al Qaeda sympathizers cooking up terror bugs like anthrax or plague was as great as that posed by a nuclear attack.The high-profile case of Bruce Ivins, the government researcher charged with masterminding the 2001 anthrax mailings, only heightened such concerns.
But one outcome of the heightened vigilance is the [government’s list of “select agents” has gotten a bit long. It now includes 80 naturally occurring pathogens, from the potent toxin ricin and the exotic and potentially lethal Ebola virus to the treatable brucella — a parasite that causes livestock disease on three continents.
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