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The White House is touting a $6 billion plan of
bioterror protection called Project BioShield, which could receive congressional
approval as the public's eye is turned toward the risk of bioterrorist attacks
in the United States--yet several experts on bioterrorism are raising doubts as
to whether the scheme will provide enough protection against such threats. The
10-year plan seems to have the backing in the Senate necessary for passage and
is a little less certain in the House of Representatives, but critics say that
the money is not actually enough to draw the top companies and researchers into
the field of producing counteragents to bioterrorist products, such as smallpox,
anthrax, or pneumonic plague. Drug industry executives note that it takes about
$500 million to get a single product from the drawing board to the market--a
process that would rapidly eat away at the $6 billion pledge--while companies
also say that they are unwilling to do the work without promises of protection
from liability lawsuits that could arise if a protecting agent had dangerous
side effects. Still, the biggest problem, say scientists, is the lack of
leadership in this
initiative: the money is being pledged, but
interest in the endeavor could fade quickly as the government's attention is
pulled away by other matters or if bioterrorist attacks do not come back to the
United States and grip the public once again.
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LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"