With the information surfacing about Trie and the bio chem supplies sold to china, possible trouble over Panama, and a few other events of the day, would it be a bad idea to again go over the information for safety in case of a bio or chemical accident?

On another threat Don K indicated he could post some links and additional information. John Hopkins Medical Center carries information on bio hazards also.

This is not an area where I have any knowledge or expertise, but know many of you do.

Want to also say THANK YOU, to the many well informed and educated people here who have done so much to educate us. Thanks!

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 26, 2000

Answers

You've been reading my mind! I for one would really appreciate information and links for bio/chem protection. I don't know much about it but do see a definite possibility of problems. My idea is, why be half prepared? Thanks for the thread.

-- Sammie (sammiex0@yahoo.com), February 26, 2000.

Here are some links to useful info on the chem/bio threat and how to deal with it. Some will be a bit strange and some may scare the you- know-what out of you. If you are easily upset you may not want to read this stuff (seriously). This hits the high points of online NBC and you'll likely find links to practically everything useful.

Never know how my "list" I upload here will format (the system doesn't like my Mac much), so I added the "***" to keep listings seperatly defined. Sorry it's something of a mess but you'll likely find it useful.

http://www.usamriid.army.mil/ The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Useful info and links ***

http://www.virology.net/garryfavweb.html Links/info "All the virology on the WWW - Biological weapons and warfare ***

http://ID.medscape.com/govmt/CDC/EID/public/journal.EID.html CDC Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases (free e-mail subs) ***

http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/nbc/index.html Manufacturing companies supplying chem/bio equipment to the military * **

http://www.nih.gov/od/ors/ds/pubs/bmbl/contents.htm National Institute of Health, Biosafety page ***

http://www.who.int/emc/index.html Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response (CSR), World Health Organization (WHO) website ***

http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/ The Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies; check out the BioDefense Quarterly ***

http://www.who.int/wer/ Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) from WHO, free e-mail subs ***

http://www.mindspring.com/~nbcnco/ The Chem/Bio/Nuke Anti-Terrorism Page, A bit strange but good info if you dig some ***

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/index.html Govt. paper on Proliferation/Threat and Response to WMDs, some good info ***

http://www.emergency.com/cbwlesn1.htm Emergency Response to Chemical/Biological Terrorist Incidents, Emergency Response & Research Institute ***

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/otoole.htm Smallpox: An Attack Scenario (CDC EID) ***

http://www.nbc-med.org/SiteContent/main.asp The Medical NBC Online Information Server a public service by the U.S. Army's Office of the Surgeon General. Very Good info. ***

http://cryptome.org/smallpox-wmd.htm & http://cryptome.org/ bioweap.htm These are two excellent articles by Richard Preston from the New Yorker. Very scary stuff... ***

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/ PBS Report on Biological warfare ***

http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/bioterrorism/allfall.html New Scientist report on Bioterrorism ***

http://www.wsu.edu/~hurlbert/pages/101biologicalweapons.html BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS; MALIGNANT BIOLOGY, info and links, very good. ***

http://www.dtra.mil/chem/chem.html Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA. This new Agency consolidates Defense Department functions to deal with the threats posed by nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. ***

http://id.medscape.com/Medscape/features/newsbeat/2000/0200/ID- BioTerr.html Medscape reports; Preparing for Bioterrorism ***

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), February 26, 2000.

Don, thank you very much for your information and web sites. Have read several. Yes, its not real pleasant, but then being unprepared would be worse. We don't know if anything will ever happen to cause a need for these considerations, but it never hurts to be informed.

Thanks.

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 27, 2000.

Feb 4, 2000;10:32 p.m. AP Story

SAN DIEGO  Terrorists will likely attack the United States with the small pox or anthrax viruses within the next five to 10 years, says an expert who warns the country is unprepared.

"We are a long way away from being even modestly prepared," D.A. Henderson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies, said Friday at a conference on bioterrorism. "But we're doing a lot more now than we did 12 months, or even 6 months ago."

"This is a problem that's going to have to be dealt with at the local level," said Henderson, who was a leader in the effort to eradicate smallpox and now is mobilizing health workers against bioterrorism.

"Doctors and nurses in emergency rooms will be the first ones to see signs of an epidemic. They need to know how to deal with it."

Suzy, you're right....If this comes about a little bit of preparedness will go a long way and if you aren't prepared when it happens it's basically too late (not to say I wouldn't try to save myself and loved ones were I unprepared...it's tough to improvise a .1 micron particle mask though).

I've read of increased activity by nation states and terrorist groups trying to get their hands on bioweapons. They know the U.S. is preparing and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that an attack might be more effective if done soon before all our ongoing programs and preps are complete. Hence my person emphasis on getting my preps and knowledge up to snuff NOW.

If folks like Donald Henderson (Hopkins) and CJ Peters (CDC/SPB) feel an attack is inevitable I wouldn't think to argue with them.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), February 27, 2000.

One other thing I forgot....

One of the other reasons I've made my preps has nothing to do with terrorism or an accidental agent release. It relates to the fact that we are/may be breeding and even distributing potentially devestating diseases.

We've all heard about the emergence of antibiotic resistant diseases which relates to the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in health care. This has epidemiologists and microbiologists very concerned; they feel we may be losing the war with these organisms.

There's reasonable evidence to suspect that some of the worst scourges of the modern world, AIDS and Ebola to name two, may actually be man made and accidently distributed in vacines, specifically in the hepatitis B vaccine. It's a documented fact that the early polio vaccines contained various live simian (monkey) viruses including SV40. Some of the monkey diseases, not generally considered to affect humans, may have mutated (that's a viruses prime job besides living and reproducing) into forms that do affect humans. I recently read the book "Emerging Viruses, AIDS and Ebola", which document and make a case for this. While it's a bit heavy on the conspiracy angle it's a very interesting and informative read. I mainly bought it because it was recommended for it's info on basic virological processes but I have to admitt that it contains compelling evidence for the inadvertant spread of disease via vaccines.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), February 27, 2000.

Anyone here interested in the chemical hazards posed by common consumer products? These products have injured more people than you might guess, causing life-long health problems and disabilities. For example, the analysis of the popular fragrance below is the basis for a "citizen petition" to the Food & Drug Administration, asking for a warning label to be placed on the fragrance. The Environmental Health Network sponsored this petition, after the analysis and research was done by two private individuals. For more info see the fragrance petition section of http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/ehnindex.htm and look for links to info about other products and plight of people who are already living a barely survivable life as a result. "Eternity" Fragrance Analysis by Huber Research, Switzerland Lists Chemical Name, % of Fragrance Formula, CAS# (Chemical reference number), Known Effects *Chemicals marked with asterisk were noted "the chemical, physical, and toxicological properties have not been thoroughly investigated" (Aldrich, Fisher). Data was not found for some chemicals.

-- Amy (canaryclub@aol.com), February 28, 2000.

Hi, I also wanted to thank Don for all those websites.I've printed out and will check them. Here too is a press release covering the above fragrance analysis (which, I'm sorry to say, printed out in a pretty difficult format). It would be so wonderful if all the disaster prep people "got hip" to this growing, but still largely hidden, public health disaster in the making and took steps in their personal and work lives to prevent chemical injury to themselves or their loved ones. In this context, I offer this information. It's not as attention getting as Y2K or chemical warfare, but it is far more insidious and it's happening now. Thanks for listening. Joint Release Issued by the Cancer Prevention Coalition and the Environmental Health Network

Perfume: Cupid's Arrow or Poison Dart?

CHICAGO, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released today by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, and Amy Marsh, President of the Environmental Health Network, Larkspur, California:

Lovers looking for the perfect Valentine's gift should think twice before giving a bottle of toxic chemicals to their sweethearts. Recent analysis of Calvin Klein's "Eternity Eau de Parfum" (Eternity) by an industry laboratory specializing in fragrance chemistry revealed 41 ingredients. These include some known to be toxic to the skin, respiratory tract, nervous, and reproductive systems, and others known to be carcinogens; no toxicity data are available on several ingredients, while data on most are inadequate. Additionally, some ingredients are volatile and a source of indoor air pollution. Since 1995, several consumers have complained to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of neurological and respiratory problems due to Eternity.

The analysis was recently commissioned by the Environmental Health Network (EHN) as many members had complained of asthma, migraine, sensitization, or multiple chemical sensitivity when exposed to Eternity. Based on this analysis, EHN filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA on May 11, 1999, which was subsequently endorsed by the Cancer Prevention Coalition. The petition requests that the FDA take administrative action and declare Eternity "misbranded" or "adulterated" since it does not carry a warning label as required by the terms of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Grounds for requesting the warning label include FDA regulation 21CFR Sec. 740/10: "Each ingredient used in a cosmetic product and each finished cosmetic product shall be adequately substantiated for safety prior to marketing. Any such ingredient or product whose safety is not adequately substantiated prior to marketing is misbranded unless it contains the following conspicuous statement on the principal display panel: Warning: the safety of this product has not been determined."

Since May, over 700 consumers with health problems from exposure to various mainstream fragrances have written to the FDA supporting EHN's petition. The FDA responded on November 30 to the effect that they had been unable to reach a decision on the grounds of "other priorities and the limited availability of resources." The petition is thus still open for further public complaints and endorsements.

A wide range of mainstream fragrances and perfumes, predominantly based on synthetic ingredients, are used in numerous cosmetics and toiletries, and also soaps and other household products. Currently, the fragrance industry is virtually unregulated. Its recklessness is abetted and compounded by FDA's complicity. The FDA has refused to require the industry to disclose ingredients due to trade secrecy considerations, and still takes the position that "consumers are not adversely affected -- and should not be deprived of the enjoyment" of these products. The Cancer Prevention Coalition and EHN take the unequivocal position that the FDA should implement its own regulations and act belatedly to protect consumer health and safety.

Valentine sweethearts should switch to organically grown (pesticide-free) roses or other flowers as safe alternatives to mainstream perfumes.

Contact: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois, School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, Chairman, the Cancer Prevention Coalition, 312-996-2297, or Barbara Wilkie of the Environmental Health Network, P.O. Box 1155, Larkspur, California 94977, wilworks@lanminds.com http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/ehnindex.htm

SOURCE Cancer Prevention Coalition and Environmental Health Network CO: Cancer Prevention Coalition; Environmental Health Network

-- Amy (canaryclub@aol.com), February 28, 2000.

Hi Amy. No wonder I always get a headache in the perfume section. Sometimes that stuff is so strong, it makes you sick. Thanks for the info.

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 29, 2000.