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11 Pathogens Pose Big Security Risk For Research

Posted by timothy on from the in-the-glovebox-please dept.

sciencehabit writes "A United States federal panel of scientists and security experts has identified 11 microorganisms that it wants designated as Tier 1 select agents, a new category of biological agents that would be subject to higher security standards than other pathogens and toxins used in biomedical research. The category would include anthrax, Ebola, Variola major and Variola minor (the two viruses that cause small pox), the Marburg virus, the virus that causes foot and mouth disease, and bacterial strains that produce the botulinum neurotoxin. At the same time, the panel has recommended dropping 19 pathogens and six toxins from the broader list of 82 agents that are currently governed by the select agent program."

15 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Re:wow... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, it is a viral infection. The virus responsible is called the picornavirus.

  2. Ronald Reagan - "Facts are stupid things" by camperslo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley and demanded the distribution of food to the poor, Reagan joked, "It's just too bad we can't have an epidemic of botulism."

    Let's hope that governments and others don't do much with those nasties.

    Reagan quote is from The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). March 14, 1974

    1. Re:Ronald Reagan - "Facts are stupid things" by HBI · · Score: 4, Informative

      Explain why life was so good in Reagan's America, then.

      Your argument only makes sense in a left-wing context. Anyone who actually had to live and grow up in those times knows the sharp differential between Jimmy Carter and Reagan.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    2. Re:Ronald Reagan - "Facts are stupid things" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Explain why life was so good in Reagan's America, then.

      Because he traded short term economic gain for long term economic stability. Reagan is the president who began dismantling Depression-era regulations on the banking and finance industries. That resulted in a short term boost. This trend continued (and thus the blame doesn't fall squarely on Reagan's shoulders) and resulted in the S&L Crisis, the .com Bubble, the real estate bubble, and the resulting Great Recession.

      Reagan's policies may have been good for you living during those times, but they've been a fucking disaster for those of us who had to graduate college and work through the past decade.

    3. Re:Ronald Reagan - "Facts are stupid things" by wintercolby · · Score: 2

      I grew up when Reagan was president, and I have to say that it was close to abject poverty. Both of my parents worked, but neither seemed to make any headway. As the second oldest of the children, I didn't know what new clothes were until I was 16 years old and got an after school and weekend job. The only good thing I can say about growing up like that is that people who grow up soft don't know how to survive tough times. I went to a different school every year, we just kept moving to poorer and poorer areas. Perhaps my experience was colored by all of the poverty that I saw, growing up, but I have to say that the Reagan years were the worst part of America in my memory.

      From my perspective, life was horrible in "Reagan's America", so leave your right wing rhetoric at home, or explain how life was soooo stinking good under Reagan.

      --
      Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know. --Aldous Huxley
    4. Re:Ronald Reagan - "Facts are stupid things" by fnj · · Score: 2

      Your left wing slant is no better than right wing slant. I'll see your anecdote with my own. The Reagan years were by far the best of my life. The atmosphere was fresh and filled with hope, and the economy was suited and rewarding to entrepreneurship, and I was an (extremely petty) entrepreneur. OK, I was a one man contractor. The Reagan years followed the abject tumble into misery that was the Carter years, and preceded the long, burned-out, no-prospects, exhausted period that was the Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, and is the Obama years. You can't deny the facts of my life, just like I can't deny those of yours. And you know what we both are? INDIVIDUAL cases. Big deal.

  3. Re:wow... by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 2

    To add some info to the parent, prions are responsible for BSE in cattle, Scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer, CJD and Kuru in man, and couple of inherited, rather uncommon diseases in men, too - like fatal familar insomnia and weird stuff like that. Foot and Mouth is indeed viral, not prionic.

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  4. Re:Missing a poison there by nedlohs · · Score: 2

    Because, in contrast to yourself, the list creators aren't complete morons.

  5. Re:Worryingly by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't see the zombie virus in there...

    That's because the zombie virus causes zombies to eat brains. Politicians don't have brains so they aren't worried about it.

  6. Small problem... by girlintraining · · Score: 2

    and bacterial strains that produce the botulinum neurotoxin.

    That bacteria can be found in most people's attics, inside canned food that's gone bad, and a whole lot of other places. Oh, and in cosmetic shops (botox anyone?). Good luck with that, Uncle Sam. It's like trying to regulate ricin; It's too easy to find and synthesize.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:Small problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is the spore formers they are worried about. Botox or bad canned goods might kill someone or even a few people, but botox is for morons and canned food is tested in the U.S. so you are safe if you don't eat spoiled/past date canned goods. But when the bacteria starts to form spores is when it becomes dangerous as it can be weaponized and spread as an aerosol. Entire cities of people being infected is the real concern here, not a few individual cases. And trust me, they have response plans in place to deal with this exact scenario. The rules are already pretty strict about how this stuff is dealt with. They just want to make it even safer. Good for them. That stuff is really scary.

    2. Re:Small problem... by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 2

      As a trained biochemist, I'd say, yes, it is somewhat easy to get a culture going of whatever weaponizable germ you want - media are pretty standard and well published, the lab equipment will put you down a couple of grands, basic clue will keep you alive. However, actually weaponizing a strain you cultured - I have to admit that this is well beyond me (and I prefer it that way). For effect, you'll need to form a well-distributing aerosol, in a manner that germs survive, and that is an art in itself.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  7. Major risks still food contamination by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Informative

    While it is true that certain pathogens are virulent and can be airborne, ebola for example works so well because it has a long enough cycle to allow transmission.

    Instantly lethal pathogens don't spread much, since they aren't mobile in a host. Visible signs early slow spreading.

    You're at far more risk from food contamination in the food supply or sunstroke, actually.

    That said, wise decision for the actual Facilites doing pathogen research (which include some I've worked in).

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  8. The Complete List of Pathogens by crunchygranola · · Score: 2

    Tier 1:

    • Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
    • Burkholderia mallei (glanders)
    • Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis)
    • Ebola virus
    • Foot-and-mouth disease virus
    • Francisella tularensis (tularemia)
    • Marburg virus
    • Variola major virus (smallpox)
    • Variola minor virus (smallpox)
    • Yersinia pestis (plague)
    • Clostridium botulinum toxin producing strains (botulism) - a late addition to the list

    See: http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/legal/boards/fesap/Documents/fesap-recommendations-101102.pdf

    --
    Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
  9. Re:Botox is there by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

    Anthrax can also be found in common dirt.

    Botulinum toxin producing bacteria have the advantage of being very easy to culture - in poorly prepared preserves. Looks like that collection of Mason jars in the cupboard is going to suddenly be regarded as a weapons cache.