CBRNe News July 2008
Gwyn Winfield examines the latest news in the world of CBRNE
Product Watch
Book your trip now!
Erich Honecker’s three storey nuclear bunker , just north of Berlin, is going to be opened to the public for the next three months - and then filled with concrete. One of the last major bunkers to be built by the ex-Soviet regime it is also one of the most advanced, and was large enough to cater for the entire East German government. Reaching a depth of 230ft the bunker has fallen into slight disrepair and is now mouldy and smelly! Visits have to be arranged before hand and can be accessed via this link http://www.bunker5001.com/en/visitation/general/visiting-the-honecker-bunker-5001.html
Remploy’s CR1 becomes Class 2!
Remploy announced that their CR1 ensemble has passed SEI’s class 2 NFPA testing. The ensemble tested was suit, gloves, boots and SCBA/respirator. Remploy suggested that this showed their commitment to the customer and future proofing their products.
So do Demron!
Radiation Shield Technology (RST) announced their NFPA Class 2 Certification, and now claim to be the only suit able to offer Chem, Bio, Rad and Nuclear incident protection. RST are the manufacturer of Demron-W, which they claim is able to protect against RN contamination thanks to their radiopaque, liquid metal, nano-polymeric compound clothing. Demron passed all Class 2 requirements of their 1994-2007 through Underwriters Laboratories.
Strike 3
AristaTek has had their PEAC-WMD software chosen for the third consecutive year for the Dept. of Homeland Security’s CEDAP (Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program). 89 recipients chosen their Incident Command Kit from a group of 19 other vendors, and the 89 users will also get a full day’s training in the software.
Tracerco expands
Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Group, has announced that they are celebrating record sales of their T201 contamination monitor and T202 safe dose radiation monitor. They are increasing their product line with their Mud Monitor and a new dosimeter and neutron monitor.
Pill popping
Sanofi Aventis SA announced their £276 million acquisition of Acambis, the manufacturer of the Smallpox vaccine ACAM2000. Sanofi Aventis stated that this would bolster their position as the leading manufacturer of vaccines and clearly shows that someone, somewhere believes that there is good money to be made out of biological terror.
Going Dutch
Argon Electronics, manufacturer of detection simulation devices, announced that they had delivered 20 GID-M-SIM training systems to the Netherlands MoD as parts of their ACADS program. This order follows on from their previous order to supply them with 175 CP100 simulators based on the Environics Chempro 100 detector – which is also part of the ACADS program.
Bio-proof vest
University of South Dakota scientists Kie Luo and Yuyu Sun, have done some interesting research on Kevlar treated with acyclic N-Halamine, a biocidal coating. Their tests showed that Kevlar samples coated with the film had little or no adherence from the range of agents that they used. The coating did not have any impact on comfort or fabric strength, they noted, and can be easily reactivated.
Threat Watch
Well, that’s a neat ending...
Bruce Irvins, a scientist at Fort Detrick, who was recently named as a prime scientist in the anthrax investigation, committed suicide with an overdose of Tylenol. Irvins had been under investigation for over a year, and (in what can’t be just good timing) after the conclusion of the Hatfill case (see June news) - which he can only have watched with horror - was about to be indicted for the 2001 anthrax attacks. Irvins had also had to undergo psychiatric help, leading some to conclude that he was psychotic. The parallels with the UK’s David Kay are astounding, a well respected scientist, hounded by the government until the pressure causes him to take his own life - allowing the original problem to come to a ‘natural’ end. At time of writing there is rumoured to be additional information which will corroborate why Irvins was a key suspect. Presumably if the evidence was that strong they wouldn’t have waited this long to bring him in...
And you can stay dead this time...
Al-qaeda’s ‘chemical weapons expert’ has apparently been killed for the second time. An airstrike in South Waziristan, the village of Azam Warsak to be exact, apparently was the end of Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar. Midhat, also known as Abu Khbab al-Masri, an Egyptian national with a $5 million reward, was apparently killed in 2006 in a strike on Al-Zawahiri. Pakistan was naturally aggrieved about the strike in the Tribal areas, which it nominally controls- though it does have it’s own problems in the area and has released military operations to try and gain a firmer control. I wonder whether the drone pilot (that apparently made the kill) manages to get a share of the reward - if it indeed proves to be the case.
One hot tamale!
US Federal health officials have managed to track down the rare strain of Salmonella that has poisoned more than 1,200 people to a jalapeno chilli grown in Mexico. All supplies were pulled from the market and the FDA is advising people to only eat cooked jalapeno and Serrano chillis. As is often the case, tracking exactly where the chillis have gone into processed food will now be the major challenge.
Loaded for BEAR!
El Paso County splashed out $250,000 for Lenco’s BEAR (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response & Rescue) vehicle, which was designed to deal with natural disasters as well as CBRE attacks. It has been used 52 times in three years… to arrest suspects, protect dignitaries and handle civil disturbances. Local police have stated that it is necessary, yet there has been criticism of it as toys for the boys - one thing is certain, is that getting 11 miles to the gallon is going to make it expensive to run as fuel prices soar!
When you’re in a hole...
Good to see that stupidity is not limited to any continent - Assad Sarwar and accomplices lost their opportunity to blow up their targets when council workmen cleared their chemical stash away. After buying a bike on eBay for 99p, Sarwar decided to go to Wales and buy hydrogen peroxide because Wales was close and he had never been there before. He was planning to use the hydrogen peroxide to make HMTD, and stashed the chemicals in a nearby wood when the ground proved to hard to dig in. He had returned home to look up the best way to dig a hole [! I say again, !] and when armed with his research returned to find the chemical missing, apparently taken by the Council. All eight defendants deny conspiracy to murder and endanger aircraft.
Please forward any items for consideration in this section to the editor, Gwyn Winfield This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it