[iwar] [fc:Hospitals.told.to.prepare.for.germ.warfare]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-26 23:14:06


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Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 23:14:06 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Hospitals.told.to.prepare.for.germ.warfare]
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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2001
Hospitals told to prepare for germ warfare
London Times
BY JILL SHERMAN AND IAN COBAIN

EMERGENCY guidelines on dealing with chemical or biological warfare are
to be issued to every hospital in Britain this week as emergency
planners step up preparations for a possible terrorist strike against
the country. 

The move comes after the World Health Organisation warned Western
governments to be alert and prepare for bio-terrorist raids in
retaliation for any US action against the Taleban. 

Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, is advising NHS trusts what to do if
there is a localised germ or chemical attack.  His officials held six
hours of talks last Friday with senior Scotland Yard officers, fire
chiefs and ambulance service managers to update their emergency plans. 

The advice will update guidelines issued to health authorities in March
last year that gave details on how germs can be identified and where
people can be treated.  It will also list vital contact numbers for
medical specialists and scientists. 

The Civil Contingencies Secretariat, set up by the Prime Minister in
July in response to last year s fuel protests, has been revising
emergency plans for dealing with a wide range of possible terrorist
incidents, from hijackings and bombings to chemical or biological
attacks.  Details of any revised emergency plans are expected to be
passed to local authority planners, police forces, hospitals and
ambulance services. 

The Secretariat s 70-plus staff at Whitehall and at the Emergency
Planning College at Easingwold, North Yorkshire, have been ordered to
examine the plans, codenamed Exercise Misty Scene, that were drawn up
after sarin gas was released on Tokyo's subway system in 1995. 

Officials were anxious yesterday to play down the likelihood of a
biological attack, saying that the new NHS guidelines were merely a
precaution to ensure that hospitals had all the latest information. 

We have been guided from the centre that there is no evidence of any
specific threat, a health official said.  But it is important that
people stay vigilant and important that the Government continues to
contingency plan. 

The WHO released a draft report of its technical guide, Health Aspects
of Biological and Chemical Weapons, to health ministries around the
world yesterday, several weeks earlier than planned.  The organisation s
executive director, David Nabarro, said: We hope that we are not being
alarmist.  Several countries have contacted the WHO over the last few
days just wanting to reassure themselves about the kind of precautions
they need to take in case there was any kind of deliberate use of
biological agents. 

We think it is prudent to respond to make sure they get the information
they need to plan in case such a terrible thing was to happen. 

He added that terrorists could use anthrax, smallpox or botulism, a
toxin drawn from a bacterium, which causes paralysis.  Although this is
a pretty frightful scenario, there is some suggestion that smallpox
could be used, he said.  That s the sort of family of agents concerned. 

Dr Nabarro did not know how easy it would be to mount a large-scale
attack on a Western population.  Because we don t know enough about what
s involved in using these agents effectively to cause harm, we are
suggesting people take the risks seriously and recognise that it might
be much easier than the use of other forms of potential terrorist
weapons, he said. 

The US has grounded crop-dusting planes amid fears that terrorists could
use them to spread chemical or biological agents.  When FBI officers
arrested Habib Zacarias Moussaoui, 33, a former resident of Brixton,
South London, who paid for Boeing 747 simulator training before the
attacks on September 11, they discovered crop dusting manuals at his
home.  One hijacker, Mohammed Atta, had tried to buy a crop-spraying
plane.  In Britain yesterday Special Branch detectives checked companies
licensed to conduct aerial sprays of crops and pollutants such as oil
slicks.  The Civil Aviation Authority said that six companies were
licensed as agricultural aviation operators and they tended to use
helicopters.  Of the six, only three now carry out the work. 

British hospitals were asked last week to upgrade their major incident
emergency plans to cope with mass casualties.  Mr Milburn confirmed
yesterday that he had asked the NHS to review contingency planning
arrangements and to ensure they are flexible and can cope with different
eventualities . 

Many hospitals are equipped with decontamination units and some NHS
trusts stock antibiotics that can be given to those infected by deadly
viruses, including anthrax.  Officials said that enough vaccine is
stored nationally to deal with localised germ attacks, and each health
authority would have a specialist laboratory with vaccine and
antibiotics. 

Other officials suggested that the run on gas masks may be ill-judged. 
Our advice from public health doctors would be that the gas masks around
would not be any use against some of the biological agents which we know
about, one said.  Nerve agents affect the skin and a mask would provide
little cover and would provide false reassurance. 

The Army Store in Leith, Edinburgh, which is one of Scotland s biggest
Army supply stores, normally sells ten masks in a year.  Yesterday it
said that it had had requests from more than 300 people. 


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