Democratic officials are saying that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is a “leading contender” for the job of secretary of homeland security in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

These officials caution that no final decision has been made on the job involving the new department created by the Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, and the subsequent anthrax attacks on Congress and the media.

The officials agreed to discuss the situation on grounds of anonymity because of the secretive nature of the screening process for Obama’s Cabinet.

Napolitano, who once was Arizona’s attorney general, was among the first of the Democratic governors to commit to Obama’s presidential bid. “Governor Napolitano deserves praise for standing up the federal government,” said Dan Pochoda, legal director of the ACLU of Arizona.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) applauded Napolitano this summer when she refused to enforce the federal “Real ID” act which required that states to issue ID cards that would prevent terrorists from getting fake IDs, boarding planes, and attacking innocent Americans.

According to Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program, “the governor’s actions send a strong and clear message that the people of Arizona will not stand for the Department of Homeland Security trampling on their right to privacy.”

A poll on American On-Line (AOL) today said that 60 percent of Americans did not approve of the choice of Napolitano by Obama.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Executive Editor

Posted: November 20th, 2008 under Anthrax.
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A grand jury indicted a Sacramento man last week on charges related to a series of anthrax scares across the country that turned out to be fabrications.

The government accuses Marc Keyser, 66, of mailing threatening packages to several media outlets, businesses and Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif. It charges Keyser with 10 counts of hoax mailings and three counts of mailing threatening communications.

The charges each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Mailing a threatening letter to Radanovich’s office carries a possible 10-year prison term.

Keyser, who was arrested Oct. 29, has yet to enter a plea and remains free on bond.

Prosecutors say the mailings contained a computer disk labeled “Anthrax Shock and Awe Terror” and a packet of a grainy substance with a biohazard symbol and the words “Anthrax sample.”

Some of the packages had Keyser’s return address, and agents found 11 more packets when they searched his car, according to the federal complaint filed in the case.

Reached Thursday at his home, Keyser said he believes the nation has become lax about the threat of terrorism and said the mailings were “an act of conscience.”

“I feel we are just as unprepared and vulnerable as ever. The nation is in a state of denial,” he said. “I have taken a stand. I have warned the nation.”

During the just-completed presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s campaign offices in lower Manhattan were the target of an anthrax scare, but the perpetrators of that terrorist event have not yet been identified. Obama supports putting terrorists through the criminal justice system, rather than putting them at the military prison at Guantanomo Bay in Cuba, as has been traditionally done.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Executive Editor

Terrorists at the U.S. Navy’s GITMO base.

Posted: November 17th, 2008 under Anthrax.
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Following the anthrax scare back in 2001, ABC News reported that sales of Bayer・s antibiotic Cipro had skyrocketed 1,000 percent.  The anchor noted that many panicked consumers were spending $700 for a two month supply. Although Bacillus anthracis responded effectively to inexpensive and well -tolerated drugs such as penicillin and doxycycline, the FDA approved Cipro for use after exposure to inhalation anthrax in August 2000. According to the FDA Talk Paper released at the time, “FDA approved this new use, for inhalation anthrax, under its accelerated approval regulation.”Although the anthrax scare turned out to be greatly exaggerated, Cipro became a household brand name and has continued to be a popular drug for indications such as urinary and upper respiratory tract infections.

Now, because of mounting evidence that the drug can cause injury to tendons and tendon ruptures, the FDA has issued its most urgent safety warning for Cipro and other antibiotics belonging to the family of flouroquinolone drugs.

The exact mechanism by which these drugs damage tendons is poorly understood, but studies show that the drugs have a toxic effect on cellular components of connective tissue. The most commonly effected tendons are the Achilles tendon in the heel and the tendons connecting muscles to bones in the hand, shoulder and arm. The FDA alert indicates that this risk is increased in patients over age 60 and in patients taking steroids. Physicians are advised to take patients off fluoroquinolone medications at the first sign of tendon pain or swelling.

The consumer group Public Citizen had filed a petition asking for these warnings two years ago and eventually sued the FDA prior to the FDA’s decision. The FDA would not cite a specific number, but admit they have received several hundred reports of tendon ruptures, a serious injury which may require extensive surgery and result in significant disability.

Infection Protection asked the FDA if its approval of Cipro for anthrax and the subsequent media exposure may have contributed to increased use of the drug and the number of reported cases of tendon ruptures. Christopher Kelly, from the FDA office of public affairs tells Infection Protection, “The decision to add a boxed warning is based on review of published literature. We do not have data whether the 2001 use of Cipro for prevention of anthrax influenced subsequent prescribing patterns for the indications for which Cipro is approved.” When asked if the FDA has considered recommending a less expensive and less toxic antibiotic, Mr. Kelly would only say that, “Cipro has been available as a generic product since 2004.”

– by Dr. Chris Iliades, MD, Boston Correspondent

Cipro linked to tendon problems.

Posted: August 7th, 2008 under Anthrax, Anti-Bacterial Resources.
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A military weapons scientist was “the only person responsible” for the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and harmed 17 others, the Department of Justice claims.

At a news conference in Washington D.C.,  and in scores of court documents unsealed today, federal investigators said they targeted Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide last week, after learning that he alone had custody of a batch of anthrax that had “genetic mutations” identical to the type used in the attacks.

Ivins allegedly also engaged in strange behavior,  sending an “e-mail warning” that terrorists had access to anthrax just a few days before envelopes containing the anthrax spores were sent to media and government officials, according to the documents.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor claimed that a scientific breakthrough in 2005 enabled investigators to trace the anthrax used in the attacks to a single flask of anthrax that was under Ivins’ custody at an army lab in Fort Detrick, Md.

Investigators focused on Ivins as the primary suspect in 2007, after probing dozens of others as possible suspects.

Taylor said he was confident that Ivins is the only person responsible for the attacks, adding, “We regret that we will not have the opportunity to present evidence to the jury.”

The documents unsealed today portray Ivins as troubled, having struggled with depression and paranoia.

Affidavits also say the FBI suspected that Ivins gave the bureau false anthrax samples to mislead investigators and was “unable to give investigators an adequate explanation for his late-night laboratory work” around the time the anthrax letters were sent, according to the documents.

An attorney for the suspect, however, has claimed in national media reports that his client would have been proven not guilty at trial.

– By Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Were the anthrax attacks on Washington D.C. made by just one madman?

Posted: August 6th, 2008 under Anthrax, Diseases.
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New federal rules on the use of biological agents were bolstered in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, but the regulations may have impinged upon some legitimate research collaborations and now need to be reviewed, doctors told a 25 June briefing organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy.

The U.S. government’s “select agent” program was created during the 1990s to control the transfer of bio-agents such as anthrax and botulinum toxin. New laws and regulations after 2001 added additional restrictions on the possession, use and transfer of the agents, including FBI checks on lab facilities and the personnel who use the agents. A 2004 law then outlawed research on viruses that are close genetic derivatives of the deadly smallpox virus.

Scientific researchers have fretted about the red tape involved in creating containment laboratories and obtaining and sharing agents, particularly in the case of collaboration with foreign partners.

“These labs are necessary if you are going to work on diseases that cause harm,” said Gigi Kwik Gronvall, senior associate at the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Bio-war threatens global research collaboration.

Posted: August 5th, 2008 under Anthrax, Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity, Masks Control Transmission.
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Scientists have discovered just how the anthrax bacterium protects itself from the immune system’s biochemical assault, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study reveals a unique aspect of anthrax virulence, and also suggests a new target for disabling the pathogen, known as bacterial nitric oxide synthase (bNOS), states study leader Evgeny Nudler, a professor of biochemistry at the New York University School of Medicine.The goal of the ongoing research now is to to find small molecule inhibitors of bacterial nitric oxide synthase that would not touch its human counterpart. If scientists find this inhibitor it may work as an antibiotic.According to a report in The Washington Post, some experts think the finding may already have therapeutical value. “bNOS can definitely be a therapeutic target,” said Philip Tierno Jr.,director of clinical microbiology & immunology in the Departments of Microbiology & Pathology at New York University Medical Center. “They showed that it should be a target, and if that somehow could be met, they may have knocked out the virulence of the organism, as they showed in the mouse model.”But, experts caution, stopping the pathogen may be more complicated than the mouse model suggests, and there may be more factors at play than what the study revealed. Things may not be a simple as they seem. But, researchers said, the findings are certainly a step in the right direction and should be explored, and might offer a solution, especially because anthrax could be a viable candidate for a terrorist to deploy on American civilian populations.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

 

An anthrax infection. Source: National Institutes of Health.

Posted: January 25th, 2008 under Anthrax, Feature Stories.
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