With the recent signing by the President of the Project Bioshield Act of 2004, the federal government has authorized $5.6 Billion dollars in spending over the next ten years to increase American’s security from biological attack. Already, the government has purchased smallpox and anthrax vaccines – 75 million doses in the case of anthrax - as a key part of the Bioshield initiative. But is this a case of ‘fighting the last war’ or defending against the last terror attack? A report out of the University of Pittsburgh suggests that the life sciences are at the beginning of a revolutionary period. Scientific understanding of living systems and how to manipulate them is expanding exponentially. The report, from The Center for Biosecurity at the U of P, suggests our strategy should be “an ambitious and aggressive scientific research, development, and production (R&D&P) program that delivers the diagnostic technologies, medicines, and vaccines needed to counter the range of bioweapons agents.”
