Anthrax - CDC on anthrax, an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis.
Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP) - The official U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) site. Source for information about anthrax - the disease, the threat, the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and the implementation of the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program.
Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) - The U.S. Congress established the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program in 1997 to test and demonstrate at least two alternative technologies to the baseline incineration process for the demilitarization of assembled chemical weapons. Assembled chemical weapons are configured with fuses, explosives, propellant, chemical agents, shipping and firing tubes and packaging materials. In 1999, ACWA was authorized to manage the development and pilot scale testing of these alternative destruction technologies.
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) Website - The purpose of this site, administered by the Department of Peace Studies of the University of Bradford, is to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the BTWC. The information provided is intended to be both comprehensive and objective; it includes the Convention, the Final Declarations of the successive Review Conferences together with other documentation for the Review Conferences as well as information on the ongoing efforts to strengthen the regime.
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) - BARDA develops and procures neededmedical countermeasures (MCMs), including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and non-pharmaceutical countermeasures, against a broad array of public health threats, whether natural or intentional in origin. On October 4, 2011, BARDA issued the BARDA Strategic Plan 2011-2016, which articulates the guiding principles, goals, and strategies it will implement to enhance the capability of the U.S. government to develop MCMs to these and other natural and intentional threats to public health.
Center for Biiosecurity of UPMC -
Research, analysis, and policy recommendations for decision makers who are responsible for strengthening U.S. planning, response, and resilience to catastrophic events.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - The lead U.S. federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people - at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions.
Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) - U.S. Army agency created to enhance the safe storage and elimination of the nation's aging chemical weapons.
Chemical Weapons Atlas, A - Article written by E.J. Hogendoorn, publiched in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists September/October 1997 issue.
Chemical Weapons Convention - The CWC bans the production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons. Each State Party undertakes to destroy the chemical weapons and any chemical weapons production facilities it owns or possesses. The CWC penalizes countries that do not join by inhibiting their access to certain treaty-controlled chemicals. The CWC regime monitors commercial facilities that produce, process or consume dual-use chemicals to ensure they are not diverted for prohibited purposes. SeePrimary Documents.
Chemical Weapons Convention Archive - The Chemical Weapons Convention is one of the 25 core treaties of the United Nations. It is an international treaty which bans the development, production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of chemical weapons. The treaty text contains provisions for verification of the treaty including explicit inspections procedures, lists of banned chemicals, and deadlines for the destruction of declared weapons stockpiles and production facilities. More information about the timeline of the CWC, its accomplishments, Members and Signatories, and First Review Conference is available here or on the OPCW website.
Chemical Weapons Convention Home Page (CWC) - Resources and educational tools to assist U.S. chemical facilities in complying with the Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) CWC Regulations and CWC provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The United States is one of 164 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons (CW). The CWC does not prohibit production, processing, consumption, or trade of related chemicals for peaceful purposes, but it does establish a verification regime to ensure such activities are consistent with the object and purpose of the treaty.
Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) - A national coalition of more than 200 citizen organizations whose mission is to ensure chemical weapons are destroyed using technologies that are safe for the public and the environment.
Committees on Biological Warfare, 1941-1948 - Following a directive from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in October 1941 called upon the National Academy of Sciences to form a committee to assess the then- current state of knowledge in the field of biological warfare. The W.B.C. ("War Bureau of Consultants") Committee was thus organized by the NAS in November. Initially charged with investigating the possibility that enemies of the United States could use biological agents to attack human, agricultural, and livestock targets, the Committee issued a comprehensive report of its findings in February 1942. It also recommended that a civilian agency look further into the defensive and offensive aspects of biological warfare. With the establishment of that agency - the War Research Service (WRS) - later in 1942, the W.B.C. Committee was disbanded.
Among reports found here is the notorious Biological Warfare prepared by George Merck for the Secreary of War on 03 Jan 1945 [aka The Merck Report].
Dark Winter -
The Dark Winter exercise portrayed a fictional scenario depicting a covert smallpox attack on U.S. citizens. The scenario is set in three successive National Security Council (NSC) meetings (Segments 1,2 and 3) which take place over a period of 14 days. Former senior government officials played the roles of NSC members responding to the evolving epidemic; representatives from the media were among the observers of these mock NSC meetings and played journalists during the scenario's press conferences (see Players List). The exercise itself was held at Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., on June 22-23, 2001.
Dominion Research Center - Information on biological weapons, chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons.
FAS Chemical and Biological Arms Control Program - Covers all aspects of chemical and biological weapons and their control, concentrating on efforts to prevent the development and use of biological weapons (BW) and the further proliferation of BW programs. A major focus is the strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention with a compliance regime and cooperative measures for the prevention of infectious disease.
Harvard Sussex Program - A collaboration between faculty at Harvard University in the U.S. and at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom providing research, publication, other forms of communication, and training in support of informed public policy on chemical/biological warfare (CBW).
International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) - Committed to improving the care of patients with infectious diseases, the training of clinicians and researchers in infectious diseases and microbiology, and the control of infectious diseases around the world.
MEDLINEplus: Biodefense and Terrorism - Resources and health information on biological and chemical weapons, including : latest news, overviews, prevention and screening, specific conditions, and related organiztions.
NTI - Co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist and CNN founder Ted Turner. Facts about and analysis of the threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, missile development programs and terrorist activities.
Also see:
Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat Reduction (ISN/CB - This office was formed by merging the AC Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions Office (AC/CB) with part of the NP Chemical, Biological, and Missile Nonproliferation Office (NP/CBM). Its role is to take the lead in implementing efforts to impede and roll back the threat of biological and chemical weapons and to dissuade and impede states and entities from pursuing, using and/or proliferating these weapons and related equipment and technology. It will have lead responsibility for bilateral and multilateral efforts to implement and strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). In doing so, it will provide direct support to the U.S. Mission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - OPCW's mission is to implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention in order to achieve the OPCW's vision of a world free of chemical weapons, and a world in which cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry is fostered. In doing this, our ultimate aim is to contribute to international security and stability, general and complete disarmament, and global economic development.
Project SHAD - Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense, was part of a larger effort called Project 112, which was conducted during the 1960s. Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify US warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. Also see DoD Releases Information on 1960 Tests for more details and Wikipedia article.
SIPRI Chemical & Biological Warfare Studies - A series of studies intended primarily for specialists in the field of CBW arms control and for others whose work would benefit from a deeper understanding of particular CBW matters.
Smallpox - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) government site providing background on smallpox as a disease, vaccines, vaccination programs, tips for lab handling.
Sources, Fate, and Toxicity of Chemical Warfare Agent Degradation Products - Included in this review is an assessment of the formation, environmental fate, and mammalian and ecotoxicity of CW agent degradation products relevant to environmental and occupational health. These parent CW agents include several vesicants: sulfur mustards [undistilled sulfur mustard (H), sulfur mustard (HD), and an HD/agent T mixture (HT)]; nitrogen mustards [ethylbis(2-chloroethyl)amine (HN1), methylbis(2-chloroethyl)amine (HN2), tris(2-chloroethyl)amine (HN3)], and Lewisite; four nerve agents: O-ethyl S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl] methylphosphonothioate (VX), tabun (GA), sarin (GB), and soman (GD); and the blood agent cyanogen chloride.
Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) - CDC's Strategic National Stockpile has large quantities of medicine and medical supplies to protect the American public if there is a public health emergency (terrorist attack, flu outbreak, earthquake) severe enough to cause local supplies to run out. Once Federal and local authorities agree that the SNS is needed, medicines will be delivered to any state in the U.S. in time for them to be effective. Each state has plans to receive and distribute SNS medicine and medical supplies to local communities as quickly as possible.
Sulfur Mustard and Distilled Mustard (H) and (HD) – Blister Agents - Mustard agents stored in the unitary stockpile are in ton containers, artillery shells, and other munitions. Stockpiled at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD; Anniston Army Depot, AL; Blue Grass Army Depot, KY; Pine Bluff, AR; Pueblo Depot Activity, CO; Tooele Army Depot, UT; and Umatilla Depot Activity, OR. HD is a vesicant (blister agent) and alkylating agent producing cytotoxic action on the hematopoietic (blood forming) tissues, which are especially sensitive. The rate of detoxification of HD in the body is very slow, and repeated exposures produce a cumulative effect. The physiological action of HD may be classified as local and systemic. The local action results in conjunctivitis or inflammation of the eyes, erythema which may be followed by blistering or ulceration; inflammation of the nose, throat, trachea, bronchi, and lung tissue. Injuries produced by HD heal much more slowly and are more susceptible to infection than burns of similar intensity produced by physical means or by most other chemicals. Systemic effects of mustard may include malaise, vomiting, and fever, with onset time about the same as that of the skin erythema. With amounts approaching the lethal dose, injury to bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen may result. HD has been determined to be a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Terrorism: Background on Chemical, Biological, and Toxin Weapons and Options for Lessening Their Impact (.pdf) - CRS Report for Congress dated 01 Dec 2004. This report provides a general overview of chemical, biological, and toxin weapons and their treatment; a summary of why some of these weapons may be more attractive to terrorist groups than conventional weapons; select aspects of the current response against chemical, biological and toxin terrorism; and potential options towards lessening these weapons' impact.
U.S. Air Force Counterproliferation Center - Counterproliferation research and education including nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile (NBC/M) proliferation threats and the means of addressing those threats. Also, Organizations and Resources links to additional resources.
United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) - Nation's leading science and technology laboratory in the area of medical chemical countermeasures research and development. Sophisticated laboratories located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, USAMRICD manage a diversified portfolio of medical chemical warfare agent research projects for the Department of Defense and other Federal Agencies.
U.S. Army's Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) - The purpose of CMA is to protect and safely store the nation's aging chemical weapons, while working toward the effective recovery, treatment and ultimate elimination of the nation's chemical warfare materiel and to enhance national security. CMA also provides support to National Defense and the American soldier through its industrial base missions.
VX – Nerve Agent - Nerve Agent VX is stored in the unitary stockpile in ton containers, artillery shells, mortar projectiles, rockets, and land mines. Stockpiled in Anniston Army Depot, AL; Blue Grass Army Depot, KY; Newport Army Ammunition Plant, IN; Pine Bluff Arsenal, AR; Tooele Army Depot, UT; and Umatilla Depot Activity, OR. Nerve Agent VX is a persistent, nonvolatile agent that is primarily a liquid exposure hazard to the skin or eyes, although small amounts of VX vapor may be generated under extremely high temperatures. Nerve Agent VX affects the body by blocking the action of the enzyme acetycholinesterase. When this enzyme is blocked, large amounts of the chemical acetylcholine build up at critical places within the nervous system, causing hyperactivity of the body organs stimulated by these nerves. The signs and symptoms of exposure to Nerve Agent VX depend upon the route of exposure and the amount of exposure.
WMD Awareness Programme - Created to remove confusion about WMD by bringing honesty, transparency and accountability into this field. The web site shows what a weapon of mass destruction is, who has them, where they are, and what their effects are. Calls for a full inventory of WMD to be created by the UN and for all WMD sites to be placed under UN guardianship.
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:25 AM
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