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More that suggests that the Bush administration's Project BioShield solution to the problem posed by the 2001 anthrax letters attacks may actually be counterproductive. With the Bush administration pouring millions of dollars into biodefense research, now hundreds of facilities across the country -- many with little such experience -- are setting up hot zones to work with live biological agents, in all of our backyards.
From the San Mateo County Times:
The live sample [of anthrax], shipped via FedEx in liquid form three months ago, was injected into live mice beginning two weeks ago in an experiment to develop an anthrax vaccine for children. The mice died, raising alarms among the researchers, who did cultures to confirm the presence of the live agent. The FBI escorted the samples to the state's lab in Richmond Wednesday, where the findings were confirmed...
The Bacillus anthracis that killed the mice at Oakland Children's Research Institute was the Ames strain, the same type of anthrax bacteria used in the October-November 2001 letter attacks. Those attacks killed five people and spurred almost $10 billion in spending on new biodefense labs and research nationwide.
Congress and the Bush administration intended this rapid expansion of U.S. biodefense research to attract fresh minds and new ideas.
The anthrax vaccine studies at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute fit that bill.
The institute's lead scientist, Alexander Lucas, came to Oakland 15 years ago from the University of California, San Diego and the prestigious Scripps Research Institute. Scientists who know his anthrax vaccine work say it shows originality and promise. But a review of his scientific publications show his work until last year focused on salmonella, streptococcus pneumonia and other pediatric infections.
A colleague, Terry Leighton, studied anthrax spores at the University of California, Berkeley. Children's Research Institute never has worked intentionally with live, virulent Bacillus anthracis.
Up until about five years ago, anthrax research was an extremely small field. Only about 10 to 15 researchers in the United States were working on it, including Dr. Martin Hugh-Jones, a foremost expert on anthrax at Louisiana State University.
Now there's unbelievable sums of money in it so everyone can discover all the pleasures of homeland security paperwork, Hugh-Jones said...
There are 350 entities nationwide that can handle live anthrax. Yet it's unclear how many labs are, like Children's Oakland, working with the dead agent.