Home>News Center>World
         
 

New 'Manhattan project' to fight bioterror
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-29 11:48

The world needs an effort similar to that behind the creation of the atomic bomb to tackle the multi-faceted threat of biowarfare, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday.

"We need to do something that even dwarfs the Manhattan project," Frist told the World Economic Forum  in Davos. The Manhattan project was the codename for the United States's World War II effort to devise an atomic weapon.

"The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological. Why? Because unlike any other threat it has the power of panic and paralysis to be global."


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tenn. gestures while speaking during a panel discussion 'Biological Threats to Societies' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday Jan. 27, 2005. [AP]

He predicted that the world would experience another bioweapon attack within the next decade, following the limited casualties seen when anthrax was sent through the U.S. mail system in 2001.

Next time, the death rate could be a much, much higher, said Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor John Deutch.

An attack using the smallpox virus is overwhelmingly the largest risk, he believes.

The disease was officially eradicated three decades ago but Deutch said it was possible former Soviet stocks were still at large or even that small quantities could be extracted from graves.

"Every country has a vulnerability here," he said.

In a bid to protect citizens, the U.S. government has ordered millions of doses of smallpox vaccine as part of a wide-ranging security drive in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Other governments are also following suit in stocking up on smallpox shots. But experts warned that other avenues were open to would-be terrorists, with diseases such as plague and Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus options for weaponisation.

More worryingly still, sophisticated groups might in the future use genetic engineering to produce hybrid microbes against which there are no defenses.

Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, said such developments raised the question of whether there should be restrictions on publication of some scientific research in biology.

Physicists are already limited from sharing information on atomic weapons technology.

Collins said openness was the best strategy but he suggested there could be specific information about protocols used to create dangerous super-bugs that might, in future, be classified.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Mainland considers talking with Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian

 

   
 

Nonstop cross-Straits charter flights start

 

   
 

Guangdong becomes most populous province

 

   
 

Remains of Zhao Ziyang cremated

 

   
 

Psychology service for the rich

 

   
 

New 'Manhattan project' to fight bioterror

 

   
  Bush praises Rice at swearing-in ceremony
   
  Tsunami relief inadequate in many areas
   
  Palestinian police deploy in Gaza Strip
   
  Al-Zarqawi associates arrested in Iraq
   
  France worried about terrorism at home
   
  Iraqi expatriates begin voting in US
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 色一情一乱一伦一视频免费看| a级毛片免费观看视频| 晓雪老师下面好紧好湿| 亚洲春黄在线观看| 猫咪免费观看人成网站在线| 和桃子视频入口网址在线观看| 人妻av一区二区三区精品| 国产精品污WWW一区二区三区| 国产香蕉精品视频| 国产精品嫩草影院免费| 国产欧美一区二区| 国产亚洲精品美女久久久久| 伊人久久精品一区二区三区| 亚洲国产精品成人综合色在线婷婷 | 草莓在线观看视频| 国产白丝丝高跟在线观看| 91原创视频在线| 天下第一社区视频在线观看www| 一边摸一边叫床一边爽| 无码丰满熟妇一区二区| 久久天天躁狠狠躁夜夜爽| 有没有毛片网站| 亚洲免费一级片| 欧美成人午夜视频| 亚洲欧美一区二区三区四区| 热带雨电影无删减在线播放| 免费a级毛片在线播放| 精品国产一区二区三区久久影院| 四虎影视永久免费观看网址| 色综合视频一区二区三区| 国产偷窥熟女精品视频大全| 黄a视频在线观看| 国产成人无码网站| 国产喷水女王在线播放| 国产永久免费观看的黄网站| 884hutv四虎永久7777| 国产精品国产三级专区第1集| 777丰满影院| 国产老妇伦国产熟女老妇高清| 99RE66在线观看精品免费| 大尺度无遮挡h彩漫|