the seeds of trickle.......
House Backs Bioterror Bill, Senate to Act Soon
Wed May 22, 5:21 PM ET
By Joanne Kenen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday a bioterrorism bill written by lawmakers who said they tried to imagine the most diabolical attacks that truly evil people could launch.
Passed on a 425-1 vote, the bill would enhance U.S. public health defenses against a potential bioterror assault by expanding the national stockpile of drugs and vaccines and bolstering local health officials' ability to detect, treat and contain a bioterror attack that could be silent but deadly.
Louisiana Republican Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said when he and his colleagues were writing the bill they tried to imagine threats that could be conjured up by "the most evil person on earth."
"What would the most evil person try to do to us, with biological threats, with chemical threats, with agents of destruction," he said.
The Senate hopes to act on the bill this week, or possibly right after the Memorial Day break next week, sending it to President Bush (news - web sites) for his signature.
The bill sets broad parameters for bioterrorism spending, authorizing "such sums as may be necessary" for some programs. Exact levels are set each year in appropriations bills.
Spending on bioterror-related health programs is around $3 billion this year, a figure that was quickly boosted after anthrax-tainted letters killed five people last fall.
Appearing with the bipartisan sponsors, Secretary of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Tommy Thompson praised the legislation and said it was a "sacred duty" to protect American lives.
The sole dissenter in the House was Republican Ron Paul of Texas, whose libertarian views can lead to unconventional votes. A spokesman said Paul objected, in part, to the government having a role in stockpiling vaccines.
The bill blends legislation passed by the House and Senate after anthrax attacks last year that included two letters tainted by the potentially deadly bacteria sent to senators. That case remains unsolved, although law enforcement agencies have focused on a domestic rather than foreign culprit.
Tauzin noted that the House vote came amid vague but alarming warnings about new attacks by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network.
"I can't think of a better week than this week when everyone's attention is riveted again on the new threats that are being talked about in conversations around the world against our people to pass a bioterror package and put it on the president's desk for his signature," Tauzin said.
MODERNIZE DISEASE CONTROL LABS
The legislation expands federal stockpiles of drugs and vaccines, including having enough smallpox vaccine on hand if needed for all Americans. It helps modernize the rundown and outdated labs at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Going beyond the Bush administration's initial emphasis on Washington-based responses, the bill also would provide extensive new training and tools for local public health authorities, the "first responders" to an attack with anthrax, smallpox or other lethal agents. Hospitals also would get help preparing for an emergency surge of critically ill patients.
Backers of the bill said that by rebuilding what co-author Michigan Democrat Rep. John Dingell called a "frayed public health system," medical authorities would be better able to meet not only a bioterror challenge but a natural epidemic.
A bioterror attack could come with no warning until people start showing up in emergency rooms. Local authorities would have to recognize the attack and respond very quickly to contain it and minimize deaths.
The legislation also gives the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) new resources to detect unsafe food imports, sets aside up to $210 million for water safety assessments and tightens rules about the use and transfer of 36 toxic agents.
It also incorporates a renewal of a program in which drug companies pay user fees to the FDA -- $1.2 billion over five years. Most of the user fees would help pay for the FDA to speed up approval of new medicines, but some would also go to monitor the safety of drugs once they go on the market. |
