CBRNe News September 2009
DSEi news
In what has been a busy year for Bruker, with a major presence at DSEi, where they clearly had the largest CBRN stand at the event – and a new product launch. Their µRaid is a clear challenge to the dominance of Smith’s LCD product. While larger, and with a radioactive source, Bruker claim it is able to provide greater identification and better thresholds. Whether the market wants a product between LCD and RAID-M/ACADA will have to be seen, but what it will do is muddy the water considerably...
Kaercher meanwhile showed off their new Safeguard suit, the Safeguard 3000-A1 lightweight, this has the new Zorflex fabric manufactured by Calgon Carbon and offers, they suggest, greater comfort.
MedCM News
Nanotherapeutics were awarded a $30.9 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop an inhaled antiviral prophylaxis for smallpox. The antiviral contains cidofovir, which Nanotherapeutics reckon could decrease the proportion of the population susceptible to smallpox and is better than injectable variants. Meanwhile Bavarian Nordic announced that they were in negotiation with US authorities for the further development of Imvamune, their freeze dried smallpox vaccine. This product apparently offers increase shelf life and better stability than their previous versions.
Anthrax vaccine might get a long needed change after scientists from Einstein College of medicine announced that they had identified two protein fragments that could be adapted in an anthrax vaccine with fewer side effects.
The team identified two peptides an are now going to move onto animal models to assess their performance. DOR BioPharma, however, were celebrating a $9.4 million award from National Institute of Health to develop their RiVax, ricin vaccine.
The grant will fund a five year period of research for stable, at elevated temperatures, vaccines that be given with fewer injections over shorter intervals. The grant also addressed the animal model system and the development manufacturing processes.
Defender of the faith
Thermo Fischer Scientific announced its ARIS (Advanced Radioisotope Identification System) system had been field tested by police in Washington DC. ARIS fits inside anything bigger than a golf cart (damn those radiological golfers!) and is claimed to be three times lighter than similar systems. A police official stated it was a “strong defender” of the public’s health and safety.
Lord of the concrete jungle
Lion apparel announced that their two-piece CBRN ensemble, MIGZ3, had been tested and recommended by the US National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA). MIGZ3 is certified to NFPA 1994, Class 3, 2007 edition, uses tried and tested Gore Chempak fabric and was awarded 4.04 out of 5 by the NTOA. Further information will be found at www.ntoa.org/mtp/public.
New UK trade association
The UK has streamlined its various homeland security and defence trade associations into one boy: the ADS – aerospace, defence and security. NBC UK, which was part of the DMA – Defence Manufacturers’ Association – will join other companies from the police and aerospace industry in lobbying the British government. Steve Phipson, Smiths Detection stalwart, will head up the Security side.
Keeping the boom out
Nabco announced that the seven Total Containment Vessels that the USMC CBIRF unit possess have accompanied the unit wherever they have travelled. Nabco is rolling out units to Marine forces in North and South Carolina, Maryland and California.
Avon in the hotzone
Avon Protection announced that training company Hotzone Solutions has evaluated and chosen the ST53 (which also received NIOSH Title 42, Part 84, approval) as its respirator of choice. This will mean that the ST53 will be worn during demonstrations in its live agent training environment.
Opening the doors
Saint-Gobain came up with a neat idea for local hazmat crews in their New Hampshire home by opening the company’s production facility up as a training ground.
While it meant that the local Merrimack Fire Rescue had to don Saint-Gobain’s OneSuit Gard protective ensembles, it did mean that they got to play with a leaking drum of toxic materials in full level A protection. Thankfully, if there had been a suit leak, the chances of surviving the “toxic” sweetened lemonade in the barrel was high! Saint-Gobain has also launched its new YouTube channel: check it out on www.youtube.com/SaintGobainONESuit
Qiagen gain additional licences
Qiagen, manufacturer of PCR detectors such as the Rotor Gene, announced it has acquired additional PCR licences from Roche and Idaho Technology/ The licences are for thermal cycler and PCR methods and will also cover high resolution melting curve analysis – the coming thing in PCR.
Over the Verizon
Verizon Business stood up their own hazmat team – the MERIT, Major Emergency Response Incident Team. The team is to protect the thousands of miles of communication network in the US should there be a natural, or terrorist, disaster.
These were telecommunication specialists that were trained to hazmat standards allowing them to enter a contaminated area and repair the damage. Trained to NFPA and OSHA standard and have a wide variety of chem. and rad detectors. Other private sector companies, such as AIG, have had CBRN/hazmat trained teams – and many telecommunication companies have solid emergency management plans - but this seems to be a first.
Clue clue
MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) signed a (Can) $2 million contract through CRTI for a crime scene hazard management information tool. The system is to provide real time data, 3D mapping, and situational awareness of CBRNE threats at the crime scene. MDA will be partnered with RCMP, as well as other Canadian police forces.
Mid life crisis averted
Bruhn Newtech announced that they were providing a mid life improvement for the UK’s BRACIS software. This will allow integration into Bowman radio and the Defence Information Infrastructure and has an IOC of 2012. Meanwhile the Canadian Department of National Defence have upgraded their version of NBC Analysis to ensure full compliance with Nato’s ATP/AEP 45.
Cooling breeze
Zephyr announced that they had released a version of their physiological status monitoring system for fire fighters – the Bioharness FRS 1000. Deployed over existing digital radio equipment the system is able to report the vital signs of the team back to a commander.
Hi! Droxy..
Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, announced that they had found a new oxime group that offered cheap and effective sensors for OP detection. A pincer like molecule containing hydroxyl oxime is expected to be more sensitive, easier to deploy in the field and able to detect the agent in milliseconds.
Threat Watch
Not sure who the joke is on…
New Mexico officials found their investment in radiological detectors paid off at their Port Anthony when a Fed Ex van was picked up giving off gamma rays. Inside the truck they found a 8x8 box containing uranium ore, which was then tracked back to a state firefighter. The firefighter apparently travels the country teaching people how to detect radiological dirty bombs, but this time clearly found his teaching redundant. The Silver City Sun didn’t let slip whether the individual was arrested, but considering the heightened state of readiness it would seem odd if he wasn’t.
If wishes were horses…
Detained Tamil Tiger leader Kumaram Pathmanathan has apparently told investigators that the rebel group had been in contact with ‘Western Countries’ to acquire nuclear weapons and know how so they could use them against the Sri Lankan army. While the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had been successful in buying US anti-aircraft systems, buying nuclear weapons or know how is five or six orders of magnitude above that. This is either black propaganda against LTTE, or one of those ‘Tiger team think tank’ ideas - ‘Wait… wait… I have it! If we had nuclear weapons we could blow them to smithereens!’ ‘Great - I like it!’ Where nuclear weapons are concerned there is an enormous gap between desire and reality.
Money, money, money
Senator’s Talent and Graham’s World at Risk report is starting to get legs behind it. Senators Liebermann and Collins are planning to introduce legislation to implement some of the report’s recommendations. While the report introduced 49 specific recommendations the expected likelihood is that they will focus on the bio threat.
There has been a press for funds for the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA) which has already been earmarked for $300 million, but the WMD Commission is pressing for $1.7 billion. More details of the recommendations can be found on www.preventwmd.gov/report/ but this is not just another US cash-rich initiative. Some of the recommendations for biosecurity will have an impact on European and Asian bio-pharma companies too – and those that say it can’t only have to look at some of the other ports and air travel restrictions that the US put in place to see how easily it can happen.
Bio exercise in Jan
Israel’s National Emergency Authority announced that they will gold their largest ever exercise to train for city wide biological attacks. The drill begins on Jan 1 and will combine military and civilian assets including IDF, Home Front Command, Magen David Adom, Police and Medical Corp, civilian respirators will also be handed out again from November.
Idiocy rising…
After the chlorine attacks in Iraq there were reports of chemical storage tanks being pinged with high velocity rounds, now the idiots have found a new target – trucks carrying radiological material! A truck taking uranium fuel rods to the South Texas Project near Bay City was fired at with shotguns. No fuel transport rules were violated, and the damage seemed concentrated around the driver’s side. The trucks have higher security specs, which was probably not known to the assailant. What next!
With friends like these…
The Ukraine State Security Service, the SBU, announced that it had arrested four police officers involved in attempting to smuggle 25 tons of radioactive scrap metal from Chernobyl. The scrap had 13 times the allowable limit – which isn’t huge, but enough to set off enough rad. detectors that it would sound like the apocalypse had arrived.
All’s fair in love…
A Lonsdale, Philadelphia, woman was charged with a US chemical weapons law after using TICs to try and get revenge on a romantic rival. The woman now has a six year term to consider whether using her microbiologist skills, and position at Rohm and Hass, as a way of smearing chemicals on mailboxes, car and house doors was a good idea. Her lawyer argued that it was a messy case that did not fall into the domain of Federal prosecutors and the 1998 Chemical Weapons law.
Presidente Cyanide
When ex-Honduran President, Jose Manuel Zelaya, and his supporters, sheltered in the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras he didn’t expect the army to attack him, and the Embassy, with hydrogen cyanide. Coup leader, and President, Roberto Micheletti denied that the Army launched a gas attack on the Embassy, journalists were, however, kept in a hotel blocks away from the Embassy. Despite rumors of ‘neurotoxins’ a local public health specialist took samples and announced that it was HCN. The UN Security Council met to discuss Brazil’s concerns over what happened to their Embassy!
What have you got for question 6?
The FBI WMD unit in Houston was left with an unspecified product all over it’s face when it failed to answer the questions set by the Justice Department’s Inspector General. He asked the WMD Coordinators whether they could name the most important targets and threats in their area and found that they either provided assessments that belonged to other areas or had to call for help from their peers.
They also found that there were no specific qualifications that the Coordinators needed to perform their duty. 7% (of the 57 agents) had training on nuclear threats, 25% on rad and 28% on chemical.
Please don’t tell me we are going back to the bad old days of NoBody Cares (NBC) when it was all too often the place of least harm for the dullards and freaks – making the job even harder for those that cared about it.
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