Believe it or not, this September marks the fifth anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Washington Post, part of The Herald’s parent company, already has begun running stories looking at developments and any improvements in protecting against terrorism during that five years.
Today, the Post published a huge story about how new technology has made it easier to build customized pathogens for use as bioterror weapons. It’s not a reassuring assessment.
Key quote: “We haven’t yet absorbed the magnitude of this threat to national security,” said Tara O’Toole, a physician and director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. (She worries that the government is more focused on bird flu than bioterror threats.) “It is true that pandemic flu is important, and we’re not doing nearly enough, but I don’t think pandemic flu could take down the United States of America. A campaign of moderate biological attacks could.”
The story also caught my eye because of a cameo appearance by little Blue Heron Biotechnology of Bothell. Despite its small size, Blue Heron is a big bird in the field of gene synthesis. It turns out that Blue Heron also has pushed the federal government to expand screening rules restricting who can have access to deadly bateria and viruses.
The company began voluntarily screening its requests after some overseas orders seemed suspicious, including one from a Middle Eastern customer asking for genes belonging to a virus that causes a smallpox-like disease, the Post reports.
Key quote: “The request turned out to be legitimate, from a real scientist, but it made us ask ourselves: How can we make sure that some crazy person doesn’t order something from us?” said John Mulligan, Blue Heron’s founder and chief executive. “I used to think that such a thing was improbable, but then September 11 happened.”
Here’s the Washington Post story. Blue Heron’s mentioned in the final part: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/30/AR2006073000580.html.
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