Information for criminal justice practitioners, students and academics.

Avecia to develop stable anthrax vaccine

 

 “Avecia said Monday the U.S. government gave it a $3.9 million grant to develop a more stable version of its anthrax vaccine Thraxine. The program, which has a due date of April 2008, ‘aims to develop a version of Thraxine that can be stored, transported and used without the need for a conventional cold chain,’ Avecia said. The program could benefit the vaccine field in general. A vaccine that does not require refrigeration would simplify storage, transport and maintaining shelf life, which could translate into cost savings.” (United Press International, 12Jun06) http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20060612-092456-6875r

 

 

 

Experts urge global center to fight pandemics

 

“Vastly increased international cooperation will be necessary to prevent and contain the threats of future pandemic diseases, experts say. Dr. Harvey Rubin, director for the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response at the University of Pennsylvania, used current disease outbreaks, including the millions of people infected with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS worldwide, to demonstrate the impact of global illnesses. Rubin told a conference at the Marshall Institute May 30 that the pandemic threat needed to be treated as an international problem. To prevent and reduce the effects of a pandemic, he suggested the creation of an international treaty -- the Framework for the Detection and Containment of Infectious Diseases. One of the most crucial and potentially controversial facets of the treaty would be the creation of a vaccine treatment center devoted to research and the creation of vaccines for current and possible future infections. The center would “‘establish codes of conduct for the appropriate use of modern molecular biology -- sort of a Hippocratic oath among biological scientists saying, 'I'm not going to use this for nefarious purposes,'” Rubin said.” (World Peace Herald; 12Jun06; Elizabeth Newell and Stephanie Sontag, United Press International) http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060612-100909-6690r

 

 

Former UN weapons inspector to publicize Japanese germ warfare

 

 “A former United Nations biological weapons inspector is leading a campaign to educate the world on the germ warfare practiced by the Japanese in China from 1931 to 1945. German cell biologist and former weapons inspector with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) Jan van Aken has just completed a research tour of war crime sites in China. ‘I was astonished at the fact that the Chinese victims of Japanese biological weapons have suffered so much in the past 60 years,’ said the Hamburg University biologist. Van Aken said he would file the findings of the investigation with the sixth deliberation meeting of United Nations Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons and their Destruction to be held in Geneva in November.~He would also publicize Japanese germ warfare crimes to the world via the Internet and international media.” (China View, 12Jun06,

Xinhua)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-06/12/content_4685236.htm

 

 

Open house to educate about chemical weapon destruction

 

“The community will have a chance to learn about the chemical weapon destruction process at Wednesday’s open house of the new Blue Grass Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office at 1000 Gibson Bay Dr. Suite 2. The office has been in operation since March 13 and provides information about the chemical weapons disposal program. Employees are responsible for providing informational brochures, producing technical documents and reports about the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant and coordinates to address a variety of Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant topics.” (Richmond Register [Kentucky], 11Jun06, Ronica

Shannon)

http://www.richmondregister.com/localnews/local_story_162102134.html/resources_printstory

 

 

Army’s toxic ties to DuPont may grow

 

 “A shake-up in the nation's chemical-weapons destruction program could send more toxic military waste shipments to a DuPont Co. treatment plant in New Jersey, adding to the plant's daily discharges into the Delaware River. DuPont's Chambers Works wastewater plant near the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge already has treated millions of gallons of partially destroyed mustard agent from a stockpile in Maryland and is fighting for the right to treat wastewater from a nerve agent stockpile in Indiana. Now the Defense Department may turn to DuPont to treat the wastes from mustard, VX and sarin nerve agent supplies from two other chemical weapon stockpiles. The prospect surfaced during a re-evaluation of chemical weapon destruction plans at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.” (delawareonline; 11Jun06; Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal) http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060611/NEWS/606110338/-1/NEWS01&template=printpicart

 

 

British police criticized over ‘bungled’ counterterrorism raid:

 

 Muslim groups protest ‘rising Islamophobia’ as government admits to erosion of community trust “The Guardian reports that Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday gave his ‘unqualified backing’ to London police chief Sir Ian Blair, who is facing growing pressure over his antiterror operations, including a bungled chemical-bomb raid in East London 10 days ago where one man was shot in the shoulder. Reuters reported that Friday evening the police released two brothers they had arrested after admitting they had found no bomb in their apartment. More than 250 police officers took part in the raid. Muslim groups and a body that oversees policing said the police had made a ‘series of errors in the huge counter-terrorism raid.’” (Christian Science Monitor, 12Jun06, Tom Regan) http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0612/dailyUpdate.html

 

 

Welsh scientists creating portable lung

 

“Scientists at a Welsh university are working on a ‘next generation’ artificial lung using futuristic nanotechnology. The ‘portable lung’ being developed at Swansea University has the potential to save millions of lives across the world. The device, a blood/air mass exchanger, integrates with the body's respiratory system and is designed to breathe for conscious, mobile patients whose lungs are damaged or diseased. As a portable device, it will allow patients to recover outside intensive care units, offering them a better quality of life and saving the NHS money.

 

The unit could also be taken to patients in emergency situations allowing their damaged lungs to ‘rest’ as the artificial unit takes over. It could be used by military medical units to keep alive soldiers affected by chemical weapons which often target the lungs.” (ic Wales; 12Jun06; Robin Turner, Western Mail) http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=17214229&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=--welsh-scientists-creating-portable-lung---name_page.html#story_continue

 

 

I refuse to be represented by a military lawyer, says Londoner held by Americans in Cuba “An Islamic terror suspect who lived in London as a teenager will this week take centre stage in a growing rebellion by Guantanamo Bay prisoners against United States military defence lawyers. Binyam Mohamed, a 27-year-old Ethiopian accused of conspiracy in the so-called radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ plot to attack targets in America, will tell a pre-trial hearing at one of the first military commissions to be held at Guantanamo that he does not want to be defended by Major Yvonne Bradley, an air force reservist. Mohamed's case was among those highlighted last week in a Council of Europe report into the ‘extraordinary rendition’ programme run by the Central Intelligence Agency, under which terror suspects are alleged to have been secretly flown to foreign countries, for interrogation by regimes that sometimes use torture. The US denies that detainees are sent to countries where they are tortured.”

(Telegraph.co.uk, 11Jun06, Philip Sherwell) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/11/wguan111.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/11/ixnews.html

 

 

Jihadist of Mass Destruction

 

“‘Dirty bombs for a dirty nation.’ The slogan appeared on a jihadist Web site in December 2004, its author lamenting that the planes that struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, did not also carry weapons of mass destruction. He pressed for a WMD attack against the United States, and proposed that deadly new dirty-bomb catchphrase to rally his followers. No al-Qaeda figure, not even Osama bin Laden, has dedicated more effort to thinking through how to destroy the United States than the author of that Web posting, Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, the veteran Syrian jihadi whom Pakistani police arrested last fall. He is arguably al-Qaeda's most influential strategist since 9/11, and has been at the center of al-Qaeda's efforts to develop WMD capabilities since the late 1990s. Setmariam's little-noticed capture, along with the much more heralded killing last week of Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, represents one of the most significant U.S. victories against terrorism in the past few years. But this is a rapidly changing war in which the arrest or death of any one leader may not matter. The new al-Qaeda promoted by Setmariam and Zarqawi is an al-Qaeda that lives on the Internet and in the swelling ranks of jihadists worldwide. Setmariam's large Internet following has been of particular concern to U.S. authorities because of his repeated exhortations since 9/11 for al-Qaeda to strike the United States with WMD.” (Washington Post, 11Jun06, Paul Cruickshank and Mohanad Hage Ali) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/09/AR2006060901972_pf.html