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"PRESIDENT BUSH PROPOSES FUNDING TO FIGHT BIOTERROR"

Gerry M. Kaye

"I will not wait on events while dangers gather around the American people." Pres. George W. Bush.

Feb. 6, 2002   Nearly $6 billion will be spent during the new budget year to prepare for bioterrorist attacks, "a new American vulnerability laid bare,": Dir. Tom Ridge, if Congress goes along with President Bush's proposals.

"This new investment shows the President is absolutely determined to make sure our response capabilities get to where they need to be," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Monday of the proposals for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

"I agree," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space. "America must marshal the effort of technical experts and entrepreneurs, top scientists and medical minds before the next bioterror event."

The defense spending bill was far-reaching. In addition to covering the war in Afghanistan, the bill reduced the amount of money that service members pay out-of-pocket for off-base housing and reimbursed law enforcement agencies that responded to the Sept. 11 plane crashes.

During the signing ceremony at the Pentagon, Pres. Bush said, the bill "makes a down payment on an essential commitment to bolster the U.S. military and equip it for a protracted battle against terrorism."

"Our military must have every resource, every tool, every weapon and every advantage you need for the missions to come," Pres. Bush said. "We can never pay our men and women in uniform on a scale that matches the magnitude of their sacrifice. But this bill reflects our respect for your selfless service."

The Bush budget proposal for fiscal year 2003 includes funding to design, build and equip the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory.

The new CDC lab would replace an aging and crowded facility built on the Colorado State University campus in the late 1960s. It would be bigger and better equipped than its predecessor.

Barely a budget blip before Sept. 11, bioterrorism accounts for some of the largest increases the President is proposing.

Pres. Bush, Sec. Thompson and Homeland Security Dir. Tom Ridge were traveling to the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center on Tuesday to promote the funding to fight bioterror.

Meanwhile, a Senate subcommittee opened hearings on how to better coordinate the response of the nation's institutions before another biological attack occurs.

The panel was to hear testimony on vaccine development and emergency medical response coordination from a panel of academic and scientific experts.

Public health officials at the center monitor activity at regional hospitals and relay any trouble to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's the kind of early warning system that the administration wants to spread to other states.

The President has asked Congress for some $300 million to help states create similar networks that could be key in the case of biological or chemical attacks.

Dir. Ridge noted that, "when combined with money already approved for this year, bioterrorism preparation would see nearly $10 billion over just two years, which is absolutely unprecedented. It's needed, to combat what the budget proposal called a new American vulnerability laid bare." Before Sept. 11, the government was spending less than $1.5 billion each year.

Dir. Ridge added that "much of the spending will improve the public health system generally."

Research into treatments and vaccines for biological agents, for instance, may be helpful in treating more common killers such as malaria, tuberculosis or the flu. Improving labs and computer systems for local public health agencies, experts say, will be useful whether people are getting sick due to terrorism or a natural outbreak.

"Infectious disease can be a challenge to a community whether it is brought there by a terrorist or is
a result of Mother Nature," Ridge said. "As we looked at the public health system, it was pretty clear that it had not received the attention that it should have over the past several years."

The biggest slice of bioterrorism spending, more than $1.7 billion would pay for medical research. It constitutes nearly half of the massive increase slated for the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH plan includes expanding basic research on the physiology and genetics of potential bioterrorism agents and accelerating development of new vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests. It would also help improve security at NIH labs.

Other bioterrorism proposals include:

State and local preparation: $940 million to improve local labs, training of doctors and other medical workers, and upgrade computer networks.

Smallpox vaccine: $100 million to buy an antidote used to treat people who have reactions to the smallpox vaccine.

Defense Department: $420 million to study bioterrorists and ways to fight biological weapons.

Hospital preparation: $518 million to help hospitals plan for a biological or chemical disaster.

Food supply: $98 million to hire more food inspectors to double the number of examinations of imported food.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.