kolmapäev, 17. aprill 2019

USA Force: Biological

Basic:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_biological_weapons_program
The United States biological weapons program began in 1943 and was terminated in 1969. It was replaced by the United States biological defense program.

Early history (1918-41) 

The United States biological weapons program officially began in spring 1943 on orders from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Research continued following World War II as the U.S. built up a large stockpile of biological agents and weapons. Over the course of its 27-year history, the program weaponized and stockpiled the following seven bio-agents (and pursued basic research on many more):
Throughout its history, the U.S. bioweapons program was secret. It was later revealed that laboratory and field testing (some of the latter using simulants on non-consenting individuals) had been common. The official policy of the United States was first to deter the use of bio-weapons against U.S. forces and secondarily to retaliate if deterrence failed.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon ended all offensive (i.e., non-defensive) aspects of the U.S. bio-weapons program. In 1975 the U.S. ratified both the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)—international treaties outlawing biological warfare. Recent U.S. biodefense programs, however, have raised concerns that the U.S. may be pursuing research that is outlawed by The United States. Initial interest in any form of biological warfare came at the close of World War I. The only agent the U.S. tested was the toxin ricin, a product of the castor plant.[1] 

---
U.S. biological weapons stocks were destroyed over the next few years. A $12 million disposal plan was undertaken at Pine Bluff Arsenal,[30] where all U.S. anti-personnel biological agents were stored.[29] That plan was completed in May 1972 and included decontamination of facilities at Pine Bluff.[29][30] Other agents, including anti-crop agents such as wheat stem rust, were stored at Beale Air Force Base and Rocky Mountain Arsenal.[29] These anti-crop agents, along with agents at Fort Detrick used for research purposes were destroyed in March 1973.[29]

Budget history 

From the onset of the U.S. biological weapons program in 1943 through the end of World War II the United States spent $400 million on biological weapons, mostly on research and development.[31] The budget for fiscal year 1966 was $38 million.[32] When Nixon ended the U.S. bio-weapons program it represented the first review of the U.S. biological warfare program since 1954.[27] Despite the lack of review, the biological warfare program had increased in cost and size since 1961; when Nixon ended the program the budget was $300 million annually.[27][28]


When the U.S. biological warfare program ended in 1969 it had developed six mass-produced, battle-ready biological weapons in the form of agents that cause anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, Q-fever, VEE, and botulism.[13] In addition staphylococcal enterotoxin B was produced as an incapacitating agent.[13] In addition to the agents that were ready to be used, the U.S. program conducted research into the weaponization of more than 20 other agents. They included: smallpox, EEE and WEE, AHF, Hantavirus, BHF, Lassa fever, glanders,[36] melioidosis,[36] plague, yellow fever, psittacosis, typhus, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever (RVF), CHIKV, late blight of potato, rinderpest, Newcastle disease, bird flu, and the toxin ricin.[37]
Besides the numerous pathogens that afflict human beings, the U.S. had developed an arsenal of anti-agriculture biological agents. These included rye stem rust spores (stored at Edgewood Arsenal, 1951–1957), wheat stem rust spores (stored at the same facility 1962–1969),[14] and the causative agent of rice blast (stored at Fort Detrick 1965–1966).[14]
A U.S. facility at Fort Terry focused primarily on anti-animal biological agents. The first agent that was a candidate for development was foot and mouth disease (FMD).[17] Besides FMD, five other top-secret biological weapons projects were commissioned on Plum Island.[38] The other four programs researched included RVF, rinderpest, African swine fever, plus eleven miscellaneous exotic animal diseases.[17][38] The eleven miscellaneous pathogens were: Blue tongue virus, bovine influenza, bovine virus diarrhea (BVD), fowl plague, goat pneumonitis, mycobacteria, "N" virus, Newcastle disease, sheep pox, Teschers disease, and vesicular stomatitis.[17]
Work on delivery systems for the U.S. bioweapons arsenal led to the first mass-produced biological weapon in 1952, the M33 cluster bomb.[39] The M33's sub-munition, the pipe-bomb-like cylindrical M114 bomb, was also completed and battle-ready by 1952.[1][39] Other delivery systems researched and at least partially developed during the 1950s included the E77 balloon bomb and the E86 cluster bomb.[14] The peak of U.S. biological weapons delivery system development came during the 1960s.[1] Production of cluster bomb submunitions began to shift from cylindrical to spherical bomblets, which had a larger coverage area.[40] Development of the spherical E120 bomblet took place in the early 1960s[41]as did development of the M143 bomblet, similar to the chemical M139 bomblet.[1] The experimental Flettner rotor bomblet was also developed during this time period.[42] The Flettner rotor was called, "probably one of the better devices for disseminating microorganisms", by William C. Patrick III.[43]

------------
n February 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released report GAO-08-366 titled, "Chemical and Biological Defense, DOD and VA Need to Improve Efforts to Identify and Notify Individuals Potentially Exposed during Chemical and Biological Tests." The report stated that tens of thousands of military personnel and civilians may have been exposed to biological and chemical substances through DOD tests. In 2003, the DOD reported it had identified 5,842 military personnel and estimated 350 civilians as being potentially exposed during the testing, known as Project 112.[67]
The GAO scolded the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) 2003 decision to stop searching for people affected by the tests was premature.[64] The GAO report also found that the DoD made no effort to inform civilians of exposure, and that the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is failing to use available resources to inform veterans of possible exposure or to determine if they were deceased. After the DoD halted efforts to find those who may have been affected by the tests, veteran health activists and others identified approximately 600 additional individuals who were potentially exposed during Project 112.[67] Some of the individuals were identified after the GAO reviewed records stored at the Dugway Proving Ground, others were identified by the Institute of Medicine.[68] Many of the newly identified suffer from long term illnesses that may have been caused by the biological or chemical testing.[69]

---
Both the U.S. bio-weapons ban and the Biological Weapons Convention restricted any work in the area of biological warfare to defensive in nature. In reality, this gives BWC member-states wide latitude to conduct biological weapons research because the BWC contains no provisions for monitoring or enforcement.[70][71] The treaty, essentially, is a gentlemen's agreement amongst members backed by the long-prevailing thought that biological warfare should not be used in battle.[70]
After Nixon declared an end to the U.S. bio-weapons program, debate in the Army centered around whether or not toxin weapons were included in the president's declaration.[29]Following Nixon's November 1969 order, scientists at Fort Detrick worked on one toxin, Staphylococcus enterotoxin type B (SEB), for several more months.[29] Nixon ended the debate when he added toxins to the bio-weapons ban in February 1970.[27] The U.S. also ran a series of experiments with anthrax, code named Project Bacchus, Project Clear Vision and Project Jefferson in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In recent years certain critics have claimed the U.S. stance on biological warfare and the use of biological agents has differed from historical interpretations of the BWC.[72] For example, it is said that the U.S. now maintains that the Article I of the BWC (which explicitly bans bio-weapons), does not apply to "non-lethal" biological agents.[72] Previous interpretation was stated to be in line with a definition laid out in Public Law 101-298, the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989.[73] That law defined a biological agent as:[73]
any micro-organism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology, or any naturally occurring or bioengineered component of any such microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product, capable of causing death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism; deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or material of any kind ...
According to the Federation of American Scientists, U.S. work on non-lethal agents exceeds limitations in the BWC.[72]

----------


The United States biological defense program—in recent years also called the National Biodefense Strategy—began as a small defensive effort that paralleled the country's offensive biological weapons development and production program, active between 1943 and 1969. Organizationally, the medical defense research effort was pursued first (1956-1969) by the U.S. Army Medical Unit (USAMU) and later, after the discontinuation of the offensive program, by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases(USAMRIID). Both of these units were located at Fort Detrick, Maryland, where the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories were headquartered. The current mission is multi-agency, not exclusively military, and is purely to develop defensive measures against bio-agents, as opposed to the former bio-weapons development program.


Since the 2001 anthrax attacks, and the consequent expansion of federal bio-defense expenditures, USAMRIID has been joined at Fort Detrick by sister bio-defense agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (NIAID's Integrated Research Facility) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center and the National Bioforensic Analysis Center). These—along with the much older Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture—now constitute the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR).
Broadly defined, the "United States biological defense program" now also encompasses all federal level programs and efforts to monitor, prevent, and contain naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks of widespread public health concern. These include efforts to forestall large scale disasters[1] such as flu pandemics and other "emerging infections" such as novel pathogens or those imported from other countries. Today, these U.S. biodefense programs—military and civilian—have raised concerns that the U.S. may be pursuing research that is outlawed by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1972.[2]
--
Biological agents have been used in warfare for centuries to produce death or disease in humans, animals, or plants. The United States officially began its biological warfareoffensive program in 1941. During the next 28 years, the U.S. initiative evolved into an effective, military-driven research and acquisition program, shrouded in secrecy and, later, controversy. Most research and development was done at Fort Detrick, Maryland, while production and testing of bio-weapons occurred at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Dugway Proving Ground (DPG)
--
In July 2012, the White House issued its guiding document on the National Biosurveillance Strategy.

--
Products currently being produced or under development through military research include:
  • Vaccines to prevent tularemia, Q fever, Rift Valley fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis, chikungunya fever, Argentine hemorrhagic fever, the botulinum toxicoses, and anthrax;[29][30]
  • Antitoxins for diseases such as botulism;
  • Human immune globulin preparations (passive antibody protection) against various bacteria and viruses; and
  • Antiviral drugs against multiple viral agents.
Some vaccines also have applicability for diseases of domestic animals (e.g., Rift Valley fever and Venezuelan equine encephalitis). In addition, vaccines are provided to persons who may be occupationally exposed to such agents (e.g., laboratory workers, entomologists, and veterinary personnel) throughout government, industry, and academe.[10]
USAMRIID also provides diagnostic and epidemiological support to federal, state, and local agencies and foreign governments. Examples of assistance rendered to civilian health efforts by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) include:
  • The massive immunization program instituted during the Venezuelan equine encephalitis outbreak in the Americas in 1971;
  • The laboratory support provided to the U.S. Public Health Service during the outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1976;
  • The management of patients suspected of having African viral hemorrhagic fever in Sweden during the 1980s;
  • International support during the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Mauritania in 1989;
  • Assistance with the outbreak of Ebola infections among monkeys imported to Reston, Virginia, in 1990; and
  • Epidemiological and diagnostic support to the World Health Organization–Centers for Disease Control and Prevention field team that studied the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1995.
The current[when?] research effort combines new technological advances, such as genetic engineering and molecular modeling, applying them toward development of prevention and treatment of diseases of military significance. The program is conducted in compliance with requirements set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Public Health Service, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Biological Weapons Convention.[31]

-----
Biodefense refers to measures to restore biosecurity to a group of organisms who are, or may be, subject to biological threats or infectious diseases. Biodefense is frequently discussed in the context of biowar or bioterrorism, and is generally considered a military or emergency response term.
Biodefense applies to two distinct target populations: civilian non-combatant and military combatant (troops in the field). Protection of water supplies and food supplies are often a critical part of biodefense.

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also participates in the identification and prevention of biowarfare and first released a strategy for biodefense in 2002, periodically releasing updates as new pathogens are becoming topics of discussion. Within this list of strategies, responses for specific infectious agents are provided, along with the classification of these agents. NIAID provides countermeasures after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security details which pathogens hold the most threat.

---

Researchers are experimenting with devices to detect the existence of a threat:
  • Tiny electronic chips that would contain living nerve cells to warn of the presence of bacterial toxins (identification of broad range toxins)
  • Fiber-optic tubes lined with antibodies coupled to light-emitting molecules (identification of specific pathogens, such as anthrax, botulinum, ricin)
New research shows that ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes offer the high gain, reliability and robustness needed to detect anthrax and other bioterrorism agents in the air. The fabrication methods and device characteristics were described at the 50th Electronic Materials Conference in Santa Barbara on June 25, 2008. Details of the photodiodes were also published in the February 14, 2008 issue of the journal Electronics Letters and the November 2007 issue of the journal IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.[11]
The United States Department of Defense conducts global biosurveillance through several programs, including the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System.[12]

---
In 2015, global biodefense market was estimated at $9.8 billion. Experts correlated the large marketplace to an increase in government attention and support as a result of rising bioterrorism threats worldwide. Government's heightened interest is anticipated expand the industry into the foreseeable future. According to Medgadget.com, "Many government legislations like Project Bioshield offers nations with counter measures against chemical, radiological, nuclear and biological attack."[13]
Project Bioshield offers accessible biological countermeasures targeting various strains of smallpox and anthrax. "Main goal of the project is creating funding authority to build next generation counter measures, make innovative research & development programs and create a body like FDA (Food & Drug Administration) that can effectively use treatments in case of emergencies."[13] Increased funding, in addition to public health organizations' elevated consideration in biodefense technology investments, could trigger growth in the global biodefense market.[13]
The global biodefense market is divided into geographical locations such as APAC, Latin America, Europe, MEA, and North America. The biodefense industry in North America lead the global industry by a large margin, making it the highest regional revenue share for 2015, contributing approximately $8.91 billion of revenue this year, due to immense funding and government reinforcements. The biodefense market in Europe is predicted to register a CAGR of 11.41% by the forecast timeline. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense granted $75.67 million designated for defense & civilian research, making it the highest regional industry share for 2012.[13]
Recently, Global Market Insights released a report covering the new trends in the biodefense market backed by detailed, scientific data. Industry leaders profiled in the report include the following corporations: Emergent Biosolutions, SIGA Technologies, Ichor Medical Systems Incorporation, PharmaAthene, Cleveland BioLabs Incorporation, Achaogen, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Xoma Corporation, Dynavax Technologies Incorporation, Elusys Therapeutics, DynPort Vaccine Company LLC, Bavarian Nordic and Nanotherapeutics Incorporation.[13]
--

During the 115th Congress in July 2018, four Members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat (Anna Eshoo, Susan Brooks, Frank Palone and Greg Walden) introduced biodefense legislation called the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPA) (H.R. 6378). The bill strengthens the federal government's preparedness to deal with a wide range of public health emergencies, whether created through an act of bioterrorism or occurring through a natural disaster. The bill reauthorizes funding to improve bioterrorism and other public health emergency preparedness and response activities such as the Hospital Preparedness Program, the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement, Project BioShield, and BARDA for the advanced research and development of medical countermeasures (MCMs).[14]
H.R. 6378 has 24 cosponsors from both political parties. On September 25, 2018, the House of Representatives passed the bill.[15]

See also[edit]






The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (usually referred to as the Biological Weapons Convention, abbreviation: BWC, or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, abbreviation: BTWC) was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons.[1]
The Convention was the result of prolonged efforts by the international community to establish a new instrument that would supplement the 1925 Geneva Protocol. The Geneva Protocol prohibits use but not possession or development of chemical and biological weapons.
A draft of the BWC, submitted by the British[2] was opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force 26 March 1975 when twenty-two governments had deposited their instruments of ratification.[3] It commits the 182 states which are party to it as of September 2018 to prohibit the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. However, the absence of any formal verification regime to monitor compliance has limited the effectiveness of the Convention. An additional five states have signed the BWC but have yet to ratify the treaty.

Signed10 April 1972
LocationLondon, Moscow, and Washington, D.C.
Effective26 March 1975
ConditionRatification by 22 states
Signatories109
Parties182 as of September 2018
(complete list)








 Articles:

 BioWar is coming(?) and USA is not ready! 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2018/04/09/biowar-a-guide-to-the-coming-plague-years/
 Europeans gave Native Americans blankets tainted with smallpox during the early colonial period, knowing their lack of resistance to the disease would wipe out whole tribes. What is new today is that virulent pathogens -- microorganisms that spread disease -- can be readily spawned in laboratories.

How readily? Using a gene editing process called CRISPR, a biologist in Pakistan or North Korea can fashion a microbe that mimics the transmissibility and lethality of smallpox with technology ordered online for less than $200. There is virtually no regulation of such transactions. To quote a threat assessment provided to Congress on March 6 by the Director of National Intelligence,

-----------








Postitaja: kell

Kommentaare ei ole:

Postita kommentaar

Tellimine: Postituse kommentaarid (Atom)