CBRNe News December 2009

Product Watch

The Lion doesn’t sleep tonight

Lion clinched the FDNY order with their MT94 CBRN ensemble. New York is the largest fire brigade in the US and chose the MT94 to give them greater versatility than their previous Level A suits.

Med CM News

SIGA Technologies announced that they are expected to break cover on the size/possibility of US orders for their smallpox antiviral shortly. In a less Delphic utterance Emergent Biosolutions announced that it had been advised by the Office of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) that the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of rPA vaccines has been cancelled in favor of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for rPA vaccine development.

BARDA decided that after a technical panel determined that no vaccine developers could meet the Project Bioshield requirement for having a product ready in 8 years. This decision has no impact on the CDC contract to provide 14.5 million doses of Biothrax into the strategic reserve.

Smiths news

Smiths announced that it has been awarded multiple contracts for the expansion of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) chemical detection programme - PROTECT. This programme has been running for five years in DC, New York and Boston, and this expansion will see an upgrade of detectors and software.

Aircraft decon

Cristanini have been performing a range of tests on decontaminating a C130J and this has allowed them to announce that each ‘J’ required 20kg of BX40, and that it took two hours to do a complete decontamination.

Italian Navy takes Avon’s call

Avon Protection signed a €500,000 order with the Italian Navy for the C50 respirator. Aerosekur will ask as integrator on their mask – which must gall somewhat since Aerosekur manufacture the in-service Italian Army respirator. The C50 is based on the in-service US military JSGPM respirator.

Staff Moves

Stephen Johnson moves from consultants SCS to Thales. Tim Picciotti moves to become Vice President and General Manager of Military and Emergency Responder Business in Smiths Detection from being their US Military business leader.

Threat Watch

“He who defends everything, defends nothing” – Frederick the Great

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged bomber of a Detroit plane, will put another nail into the coffin of easy air travel and spell millions of pounds/dollars/euros in improvements in airport security equipment. After attempting to ignite explosives stored in his pants (no sniggering at the back) he managed to set his leg on fire, was over-powered and arrested.

This latest breach of airport security has caused a massive amount of security soul searching in the US and a further ratcheting up of security measures and their attendant delays. As well as increased security at the airport, the US has recommended all passengers remain seated for the last hour of the flight and have no access to hand luggage, or have anything on their lap, for that period. Soon it will only be terrorists who will be prepared to put up with all the delays involved in flying to the US.

Royal protection

The UK’s Royal Society published a new report – Making the UK Safer: detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents – with recommendations to protect the UK against CBRN threats. Copies of the review are available here: http://royalsociety.org/Making-the-UK-safer-a-five-year-review/

Always the inside man

A leak of a radioactive substance into drinking water in Bangalore, in India, is likely due to a disgruntled employee, local police announced. According to the BBC, officials announced that an employee mixed the radioactive substance tritium with cooler water meant for staff. Fifty-five needed treatment but all returned to duty.

25 years later

Indian officials denied that Union Carbides Bhopal facility is still leaking dangerous toxins into the drinking water. 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate, in what was the world’s worst chemical disaster, and Bhopal Medical Appeal are adamant that the damage is still being done - that water for 15 communities is still being contaminated.

The regions Chief Minister stated that this wasn’t the case as water is shipped in by tankers from outside the region, yet this was complicated by local reports that stated that supplies were infrequent and insufficient.

Russian moves ahead?

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that they had destroyed 45% of the chemical weapon stockpile – as required under the CWC – and they felt confident of destroying the rest by 2012. It’s a big hope.

Romania gets better

Romania improved on their already impressive CBRN capability by taking delivery of two NNSA radiological detection vans. The vans, that are equipped with a wide variety of radiological instruments will be operated by the Romanian Border Police at their ports of entry as well as other locations.

Kelly inquest to reopen?

The UK seems to be going through soul-searching on the causes of the Iraq war as the Commission engaged to look into the causes of the war gets going. Doctors are concerned that Dr David Kelly, head of microbiology at DSTL, did not commit suicide and that the cuts on his wrist, and the amount of co-proxamol in his blood warrant further investigation.

Montalva murderers arrested

Six men have been arrested for the murder of former Chilean President in 1982. The President had been murdered with a mix of thallium and mustard agent combined with his medication, three of the suspects will be charged with murder, and three with being accomplices to murder. The President’s murder was one of the abiding mysteries of the Pinochet regime - a Litvinenko gone right?

The ties that bind

Singapore and Japan strengthened their bilateral defence ties with the Memorandum of Defence Exchanges that will formalise interaction in an number of new areas including CBRE.

Extension granted

Libya received notification that it had another extension on the time required for them to destroy their 25 tons of sulphur mustard. Construction of the demil site is not believed to have started and this will now take deadline out to 2011.

Scotland, home of whiskey, lochs and... anthrax?

Perhaps not an image you’ll see on a shortbread tin, but as well as Gruinard Island and a drum maker dying of inhalational anthrax Scotland is now home to anthrax infected heroin. One has died already, with another two in hospital. All three are heroin users and Police are trying to track down quite how the anthrax got into the drug.

There is a suggestion that the spores have found their way in via countries of manufacture where anthrax is more prevalent in animals, and that infected bone meal has been used as a ‘cutting agent.’ Very interesting...

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