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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES

Public Health Monitoring Systems: Two ‘Good Stories’

New Jersey calls on Hippocrates to help top officials cope with a major mass-casualty incident with significant international implications; the initial result was a burning success. In Tarrant County, Texas, NACCHO and school nurses put the emphasis on children in fighting the flu and both detecting and controlling the outbreak

Anatomy of a Bioterrorist Attack

Many homeland-security professionals have warned that a bioterrorist attack not only could be more devastating, and longer-lasting, than a nuclear attack, but is also more probable. Moreover, the biowarfare capabilities of international terrorists have increased significantly in recent years. But so have U.S. detection and response capabilities and equipment. In

TRANSCAER Rolls Out Nationwide Safety Training Tour

TRANSCAERĀ® has launched a nationwide Anhydrous Ammonia Training Tour, designed to educate and train officials in 27 states across the country on effective emergency responses to anhydrous ammonia incidents.

CBRNE Preparedness – The Necessary Prerequisites

It is taking longer than originally anticipated, but U.S. policies and plans to cope with future CBRNE incidents, accidental or manmade, are not only being published and implemented at the federal level (then revised and updated – if, as, and when needed) but also being replicated, in operational specifics, at

The Complex Biology of Chemical Threats

Chemicals are chemicals and biologicals are biologicals, but there are some substances – particularly useful in terrorist attacks – that are a little bit of both. Here is a short list of some but by no means all of these potentially lethal substances now receiving greater attention not only from

CBRNE: Warnings Heard, But Not Heeded

Question #1: Is the United States prepared to cope with new terrorist attacks in which CBRNE weapons are used to destroy the nation’s critical infrastructure and kill thousands of U.S. citizens at the same time? Answer: Not yet, but policy guidelines have been established and the long-range planning process has

Finding Comfort Around the World

The Navy Hospital Ship USNSĀ ComfortĀ was pushed into the spotlight last year during its 60-day disaster-relief mission in Haiti following the massive 7.0 earthquake that struck that tortured island on 12 January 2010. Formerly the SSĀ Rose City, an oil tanker, theĀ ComfortĀ has actually been carrying out a broad range of disaster-relief, humanitarian-assistance,

U.S. National Security: Does the Industrial Base Still Matter

Well, there is really only one buyer – the U.S. government. And the executive and legislative branches of that government are under extreme pressure to “cut the budget” as much and as quickly as possible. The only problem is that this year’s easy choices may never be available again. But

Tailoring an Emergency Operations Plan

The old tailor’s maxim – “Measure twice; cut once” – is also a suitable approach to the writing of an all-hazards Emergency Operations Plan for a health department. Here is a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide to the planning, writing, reviewing, and approval processes necessary to the drafting, development, and dissemination

When High-Tech Fails: Back to Plan B

Modern communications systems are a marvel to behold – and to use. And they keep getting better, generation after generation. The only problem, though, is that they sometimes fail, for inexplicable reasons and at the worst possible times. Which is why a backup system (pen and paper, perhaps?) is still

Public Health Emergency Resilience: The Next Challenging Step

The four keys to maintaining and improving the nation’s public health and emergency preparedness, according to HSPD-21 and other policy directives, are improved capabilities in bio-surveillance, countermeasures distribution, mass-casualty care, and community resilience. Considerable progress has been made in upgrading the first three of those essential “components” – but the

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