Biodefense
Biodefense encompasses a wide range of measures, including environmental detection of pathogens and toxins used in biological weapons, research and development of drugs and vaccines, strengthening the public health infrastructure, and improving emergency response systems. Brought front-and-center by the 2001 anthrax mailings and subsequent contamination of the Hart Senate Office buildings following 9/11, biodefense has received billions of dollars in government funding, as well as a significant amount of attention by the media and by national health organizations. Congress has passed new legislation and amended previous acts to increase laboratory and pathogen security and to encourage further biological research and development by both the public and private sectors. In particular, surveillance, diagnostics, prevention (with regard to vaccine stockpiling), and treatment therapies are areas in which interest is high and research is ongoing. Biodefense funding and legislation fall within a number of departments and agencies in the federal government; they include the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, and Department of Agriculture.
The new legislation and projects have brought with them a slew of questions and topics of concern. Because the increased biodefense R&D activities involve dangerous pathogens and toxins, the risk of endangerment has also increased. Specifically, the question of dual-use research has come into play; could biodefense research contribute, either inadvertently or deliberately, to bio-offense as well? Laboratory biosafety, biosecurity, research oversight, and openness in publication and communication are subjects of significant debate today.