Air pollution is a complex and multifaceted issue. Cleaning up our air can be a secret weapon in addressing some of society’s biggest challenges together, from public health to climate change, children’s development and sustainable economic growth. By working together, have a golden opportunity to make action on air pollution …
The scientist who made a deadly bird flu virus transmissible in mammals, touching off public fears of a pandemic, said Wednesday that the virus he created was neither as contagious nor as dangerous as people had been led to believe. His new revelations have prompted the United States government to …
The Government has approved the formation of a national centre for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials (CBRN) to manage disasters involving these substances. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will establish the centre. CBRN disaster management refers to the management of disasters from the use of chemical, biological, …
CHENNAI: Four nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance vehicles, fitted with several sensors, for monitoring areas contaminated by the use of nuclear and chemical warfare agents were handed over to the Army in Pune on Tuesday. W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller (Life Sciences), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), handed over …
REZAUL H. LASKAR Pakistani Taliban have threatened to contaminate water sources and reservoirs with poisonous materials to pressure the Army to stop military operations against them in South Waziristan tribal region. The cantonment boards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala, located near the federal capital, received the threat from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban …
The chemical weapons could be deliverable by artillery or missile to cause massive civilian casualties in South Korea North Korea is thought to have 13 types of viruses and germs which can be used in biological weapons, as well as up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, South Korea's defence …
June 15: The government has decided to include 33 microorganisms including virus, bacteria and fungi which could be used to wage biological terror attacks, in the new Epidemic Diseases Act. Experts have identified 16 viruses, 15 bacteria and two fungi as potential bio-terror threats. These include agents causing anthrax, small …
By Jeffrey A. Lockwood INSECTS have been conscripted as weapons of war, tools of terrorism and instruments of torture for thousands of years. So should we be surprised by the news that the CIA considered using these creatures to instil fear in Abu Zubaydah, a terrorist suspect? Yes, and here
Busienss Standard / New Delhi October 16, 2008, 0:14 IST The selective ban imposed by the US on the export of vaccines for bird flu and some other common viruses (selective because it is applicable to just a few countries) defies logic, and is a case of mixing politics with …
Allows Import Of Biothrax To See Effect On Animals India may soon be able to stockpile a vaccine to protect both its military and civilians against a possible attack with one of the world's most feared biological weapon
The world is failing in efforts to control an international biotechnology trade ranging from genetically modified crops to the building blocks of biological weapons, a UN University study said on Tuesday. The study said a lack of controls was "a potentially contributing factor to the spread of bioterrorism" -- the …
Rekindling the debate over the interference of politics in scientific research, the us National Academy of Sciences (nas) disregarded the caution of the us Health and Human Services Department (hhsd) and published a report on June 28, 2005, on the possibilities of the country's milk supply being poisoned by botulinum …
Us scientists recently protested the massive biodefence research funding by the us government since the 2001 anthrax attacks. They claimed it had adversely affected basic microbiological research. Biodefence funding at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (niaid) was raised from us$53 million in 2001 to us $1.4 billion …
The g7 has decided to establish a "bioterrorism crisis centre' and provide millions of shots to the World Health Organisation's international "vaccine bank' to counter any germ weapon attack by terrorists in future. g7 health ministers said on December 10, 2004, that the crisis centre will also help manage epidemics …
it has been nine months since the us began its search for chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Although nothing was found, yet the us' paranoia over bioterrorism attacks has not waned. In fact, two new regulations to prevent such an incident came into force on December …
an experimental vaccine against the lethal Ebola virus has been administered to humans for the first time in November 2003. If the trial proves successful, then the vaccine will be commercialised by 2006, a decade sooner than the time, it was thought, it would take to develop the inoculation. The …
fifty years ago, on February 28, 1953, two young men walked into the Eagle, a dingy pub in Cambridge, and announced that they had discovered the secret of life. James D Watson and Francis Crick had found that the dna was the key to evolution. Like many others, Crick's wife, …
Bioterrorism The sudden spurt in articles on bioterrorism published by medical journals may have inadvertently helped convince the public that the war on Iraq was just, argues Ian Roberts, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Roberts' research discloses that the number of articles on bioterrorism …
Recently, I met some senior British diplomats. Conversation moved to the impending war in Iraq and its "rationality". It became heated. I wish to share a piece of Bushspeak the discussion ended with, leaving me stunned. "Remember, there will be war. The us wants it. But if you are with …
In response to worries about bioterrorism, prominent journals have decided to take security issues into account while reviewing research papers. Details of published studies that might help terrorists make biological weapons would also be deleted. The
