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| Wilson Bio-terrorism Provisions Pass the House |
May 22, 2002 |
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Bill Will Strengthen our Nation’s Ability to Respond to Bio-terrorism Threats
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Heather Wilson has announced that several provisions she introduced to enhance bio-terrorism security have been included in the House-Senate Conference Committee Report approved today by the House. The Public Health Security and Bio-terrorism Preparedness and Response Act -- which passed by a vote of 425-1 -- will provide badly needed support for public and private health care systems throughout America’s communities, ensuring our national capacity to respond to public health emergencies, including bio-terrorism. It will improve communication among all levels of government, public health officials, first responders, and health care facilities, and will direct resources to the education and training of health care personnel.
“America is fighting a war today on many fronts and we can’t ignore the fact that all Americans are now on the front lines as we go on about our daily lives,” said Wilson. “In the past year, we have come to realize that the threat of bio-terrorism is very real, and it’s time to fill the gaps in our nation’s bio-defense, surveillance systems, and public health infrastructure.”
Among Wilson’s priorities that passed the House is an upgrade of federal laboratories and improvement of the capacity of public health laboratories to respond to emergencies. Labs across the nation were overwhelmed by the recent anthrax exposures. The bill gives priority to projects that include State or local government financial commitments and are in geographic areas with a need for expanded lab capacity.
Another provision Wilson worked to secure is expanded genetic analysis of pathogens by National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories. NNSA laboratories such as Los Alamos National Laboratory have been coordinating efforts to sequence the genetic make-up of pathogens such as anthrax. By having an accurate “encyclopedia” of different strains investigators will be able to pinpoint the origins of pathogens as well as determine genetic engineering or drug resistance.
Many agencies such as DOE have been developing technologies that can detect or prevent bio-terrorist attacks, yet these technologies are not used as quickly as possible. The bio-terrorism bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to evaluate new and emerging technologies to detect, identify and diagnose bio-terrorism events.
“This legislation is an important and timely response to the increased threat of bio-terrorism,” said Wilson. “Our nation faces an unprecedented challenge and we must work tirelessly toward securing the safety of our citizens.”
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FACT SHEET
Protecting America
From the Threat of Bioterrorism
In a post September 11th world, the threat of bioterrorist attack has become very real. In recent months, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has worked tirelessly in a bipartisan fashion to craft comprehensive legislation that deals with these growing threats and dramatically improves our public health infrastructure at the National, State, and local levels.
The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2001, combines smart policy and additional resources to prepare this nation better for bioterrorist threats or other public health emergencies, and improves our ability to respond effectively and quickly to such threats. This sweeping legislation, when introduced, will cover everything from public health preparedness and improvements, to enhancing controls on deadly biological agents, to protecting our food, drug and drinking water supplies. Specifically:
The bill authorizes more than $1.5 BILLION in grants to states, local governments and other public and private health care facilities and other entities to improve planning and preparedness activities, enhance laboratory capacity, educate and train health care personnel, and to develop new drugs, therapies and vaccines.
The bill authorizes $300 MILLION for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to upgrade and renovate their facilities to deal with public health threats and additional sums, as needed, to improve CDC capabilities.
The bill authorizes more than $1.15 BILLION for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand our current national stockpiles of medicines and other supplies, including the purchase of additional small pox vaccines.
To help prevent bioterrorism and to establish a national database of dangerous pathogens, the bill requires the HHS Secretary to impose new registration requirements on all possessors of the 36 biological agents and toxins most dangerous to humans and mandates tough new safety and security requirements. The bill also grants authority to USDA to similarly regulate those agents that are most devastating to crops and livestock. Additionally, the bill creates tough new criminal penalties to enforce both of these important new regulatory regimes.
To further protect America`s food and drug supply, as well as to enhance agricultural security, the bill authorizes $545 MILLON for FDA and USDA to hire hundreds of new inspectors at our borders, develop new methods to detect contaminated foods, work with state food safety regulators and to protect crops and livestock. The bill also provides new regulatory powers to FDA to detain suspicious foods for inspection, to require prior notice of all food imports, to improve access to records to investigate the source of contamination and to require foreign and domestic food facilities to register with the FDA. These new resources and authorities will substantially improve the Secretary`s ability to ensure the safety of America`s food supply.
To help bring safer, more-effective medicines to market, the bill reauthorizes the Prescription Drug User Fees Act (PDUFA) through FY 2007, authorizes additional funding for FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, the Office of Generic Drugs and the Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications. Additionally, the bill provides FDA the authority to notify physicians when clinical studies of new drugs have not been completed.
And finally, in order to better protect against chemical, biological or radiological attacks on America’s drinking water supplies, the bill authorizes over $100 MILLION for the development of vulnerability analyses and emergency response plans for drinking water systems.
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