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BioShield gets OK for chem attack prep

May 20, 2004

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/19/bioshield.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The discovery of sarin gas in Iraq and the use of
anthrax and ricin against Congress spurred the Senate Wednesday to
approve $5.6 billion to help prepare for possible germ or chemical
attacks on American soil.

The Senate, on a 99-0 vote, approved "Project BioShield" legislation to
pay for research, production and stockpiling of vaccines and antidotes
for bioterror agents.

The House already has approved the legislation, and lawmakers on both
sides say they hope to soon have it to President Bush for his signature.

Bush commended the Senate for passing the legislation. "BioShield will
speed the development of new vaccines and treatments that would help
prevent harm to Americans in a terrorist attack," the president said in
a statement.

Lawmakers are moving quickly on the legislation because America is not
prepared for a major bioterror attack, said Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist, R-Tennessee.

The sarin gas discovered in a roadside bomb Monday in Iraq, and the
ricin and anthrax attacks on the Capitol complex "demonstrated that
bioterror is here," said Frist, whose office was mailed a letter
containing ricin last fall.

"It's on our own soil, it's hit this nation, hit this Capitol, hit the
entire East Coast, and indeed it was deadly."

The legislation, covering the next 10 years, would provide incentives to
the pharmaceutical industry to research and develop bioterrorism
countermeasures, accelerate the approval process for antidotes and, in
an emergency, allow the government to distribute certain treatments
before the Food and Drug Administration approved them.

"The bill before the Senate guarantees that any company which develops a
successful new product for these threats will find a willing buyer in
the federal government," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts.
"With that guarantee, companies will make the investments needed to
prepare for any attack."

Added Tommy Thompson, head of the Health and Human Services Department:
"We're going to be able to push the industry in order to do research in
particular areas and then we're going to be able to provide them with a
market after they find the kind of remedies and solutions that we need."

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, said the effort will be expensive.
But, he said, "we had to set up a structure where we make it viable for
our private-sector pharmaceutical industries and biotechnology
industries to invest the extraordinary amount of money it takes to
invest in the production of this type of response capability," he said.

In cases where the private sector does not respond, the bill allows the
government to operate emergency programs to research and produce
vaccines.

Bush has been calling for the legislation since his 2003 State of the
Union address.

"Project BioShield is critical for strengthening the nation's ability to
protect Americans against biological, chemical, nuclear, and
radiological terrorist threats," the White House said in a statement
Wednesday.

Among the agents to be included in Project BioShield are smallpox,
anthrax, botulism toxin, plague and Ebola.

The House overwhelmingly passed a version of the bill last year, and now
the two sides will have to come to a compromise before it heads to the
White House for Bush's signature.

But Gregg said, "I expect the House to take our bill and move it on to
the president." House Homeland Security chairman Chris Cox,
R-California., also said he expected the legislation to go to the
president without a formal House-Senate conference.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, D-Massachusetts did not
vote.