W ASHINGTON , DC - Worried about an imminent new era of terrorism, a scientific committee urged the government today to redouble their efforts to protect civilians against emerging biological and chemical threats.
The report, published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), asks the public health service to build local health surveillance systems and emergency services. It also aims to create a national stockpile of antidotes and vaccines that could be transported to the site of an attack across the United States. The panel, chaired by the specialist in Emergency Medicine Peter Rosen of the University of California, San Diego, also has a long list of research needs. Among other things, the report recommends studies on how to conduct medical triage large-scale, the development of new biohazard detection equipment, better vaccines against anthrax and smallpox, and more effective protective equipment.
While the Pentagon has invested billions of dollars to protect troops against biological and chemical attacks, the report notes, these "military traditional approaches" are not suitable to treat civilian settings, where attacks future may occur. Despite the "very low probability" of a terrorist attack on a particular site, IOM offers a 220 page program to remedy the absence of civil preparedness. Many of the proposals, according to the report, are intended to strengthen local networks of public health, which makes the "valid even if no attack never happens."
The IOM report was warmly welcomed at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the home of the public health service. Margaret Hamburg, the assistant HHS secretary for planning, acknowledges that "we are very badly prepared" for the kind of panic that would result from a bioterrorist attack and HHS spokesman Campbell Gardett said. "We welcome the report" adding that "we are currently developing a plan that will detail how we will use" approximately $ 150 million Congress gave HHS for bioterrorism defense in a special 1999. appropriation
- E LIOT M ARSHALL
0 Komentar