- ANAHEIM, Calif. - Itemizing all the genes in potential biological weapons
such as anthrax or bubonic plague could prevent extremists from ever using
them against the United States, experts said Sunday.
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- They called for a kind of bioterrorism
genome project, similar to the Human Genome Project currently under way
in which scientists are racing to map out, or sequence, every gene in the
human body.
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- Having that information about pathogens
at hand could help in the design of quick tests to detect an attack, and
in the development of drugs to treat or vaccines to prevent infection,
they told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
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- "If we have the genetic code of
every pathogen and rapid detection methods ... it would act as a deterrent,''
J. Craig Venter, co-founder of Rockville, Maryland-based Celera Genomics
Corp., told a news conference.
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- "It will tip the balance in favor
of defense over offense,'' added Dr. Frank Young, a former U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) scientist who is now at the Reformed Theological
Seminary.
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- One of the most frightening things about
biological weapons is their invisibility. An attacker could set loose airborne
particles such as anthrax " a deadly bacterium " or perhaps a
genetically engineered flu virus, using a device the size of a shoebox.
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- The pathogens could float invisibly and
silently, infecting hundreds of thousands of people in a busy area.
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- The victims would carry away their infections
and not know for days " too late for treatment in the case of anthrax,
and in the case of a virus such as flu, giving them a chance to infect
thousands more.
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- Young said he worked at the Office of
Emergency Preparedness in 1995 when hantavirus, a newly discovered virus,
started killing people in the U.S. southwest. It took five days to determine
that a natural virus was at fault and even longer to identify it.
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- "To sit there trying to manage an
infectious outbreak, not knowing if it is man-made or natural, is terrible,''
he said.
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- Young served on a committee of experts
who advised President Clinton on the risks last year.
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- Young said the odds of an attack were
low. "But the consequences are so high that for a nation not to be
prepared is unthinkable,'' he said.
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- Friday, Clinton asked Congress for more
than $2.8 billion to defend against chemical and germ warfare and protect
computer networks.
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- That would include $1.39 billion for
domestic readiness against an attack with weapons of mass destruction,
$52 million of which would go for a national stockpile of vaccines, antibiotics
and other medicines to protect the civilian population, and $611 million
for training and equipping emergency personnel in U.S. cities.
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- A further $206 million would go for research
and development for vaccines against chemical and germ weapons, new therapies,
detection and diagnosis, and decontamination.
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- Young said Clinton responded unusually
quickly to the committee's recommendations. In only four months, "seventy-five
percent of the monies that we recommended have been funded,'' he said.
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- "That's like a hot knife going through
butter in the bureaucracy.''
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- Venter, who was also on the committee
advising Clinton, said using genome knowledge as a deterrent was one piece
of advice they gave the president.
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- "What we argued is if we have the
genome of every pathogen and every potential bioterrorism agent, we could
quickly identify any hybrid organism,'' he said.
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- Venter cited reports that suggested scientists
in the former Soviet Union genetically engineered anthrax to resist current
U.S. vaccines. Such genetic fiddling could be easily detected using speedy
genome equipment.
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- Letting potential attackers know the
United States had that ability would discourage them from even trying to
launch an attack. "The more this information is public, the more it
serves as a deterrent,'' Venter said.
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