biosecurity

Coverage of some of the key sessions from the Biosecurity Conference at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) 2011, which occurred in Washington DC on June 29-30, can be found in the FAS Biosecurity Blog.

A View from the Hill: A Conversation on Global Biodefense and Biosecurity

Jim Greenwood, the President of BIO, opened the first biosecurity discussion, which focused on congressional views on domestic biodefense initiatives, international efforts to improve biosecurity, and the implementation of policies to respond to these challenges.

Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), emphasized the need for better cooperation between the private sector and the U.S. Government in view of the recent threat from H1N1 avian influenza. He called for better knowledge and definition of the threat and stated that the challenge is to nurture better cooperation between both sides.

Dr. Nishal Mohan, Biosecurity Program Manager at the Federation of American Scientists and the Executive Director of the Virtual Biosecurity Center (VBC), spoke on the subject of ‘Globalizing Biosecurity: The Virtual Biosecurity Center’ at Princeton University on April 8, 2011. This talk is part of the Princeton Biosecurity Seminar Series, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.

For more information on Dr. Nishal Mohan please visit the VBC staff page. You can find more biosecurity related videos on the VBC video page.

The Biosecurity Program at the Federation of American Scientists is expanding!

Job Title: Biosecurity Education Project Manager

Location: Washington, D.C.

Job Type: Temporary position ending September 16, 2011 but with a possibility of becoming a permanent position thereafter.
Description: The Federation of American Scientists’ Biosecurity Program is seeking a smart, energetic individual to manage the Biosecurity Education Project and further develop existing research projects on the responsible use of science and technology, and biological weapons control.
Candidates should have taken graduate-level courses in biology and have knowledge of educational methods, html, CSS, WordPress, web design, social media, and image/video editing. Strong writing skills are required and the candidate should have previous scientific publications.

Please do not forget to check out one of our exciting new additions to the Biosecurity Program: The Virtual Biosecurity Center.
The Virtual Biosecurity Center (VBC) is the ‘one stop shop’ for biosecurity information, education, best practices, and collaboration.

To find out more about the VBC and how you may play a role in coordinating this global approach to biosecurity, please visit the VBC.

With the lame-duck congressional session drawing to a close there is not much time for action on the biosecurity related bills before Congress.  So what does this mean for biosecurity and biosecurity related legislation?  Congress is considering several bills related to biosecurity, but little progress is expected during the remainder of the lame-duck session.

First, S.510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, passed the Senate last week on a bipartisan basis with a vote of 73-25.  A similar version of the bill, which aims to update the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety policies for the first time in over sixty years, passed the House last year.

At a news conference in 2004, outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson famously said, “I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do. And we are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that.”  This bill would increase food safety and strengthen biosecurity by increasing the FDA’s power to enforce mandatory recalls of contaminated food and the number of inspections of food processors.