Jim Talent: WMD Commission

Fred Barbash-Moderator:

Good afternoon. Former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent will be with us at noon to take questions about the U.S. capacity to confront the threat of weapons of mass destruction, including bio-terror. You may submit questions in advance now.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Here’s Sen. Talent’s bio.

Congress established the bipartisan Commission for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism to address the grave threat that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction poses to the United States. Sen. Talent, the vice-chairman, will highlight some of the commission’s current concerns, including the challenges presented by the H1NI vaccine “unreadiness.”

According to a commmission release:

”The United States—unlike the European Union and China—continues to use a 60-year old production method, using chicken eggs, to make H1N1 and other important vaccines. Modern methods will shave months off the typical six-to-nine months that current processes require. These newer methods can produce more vaccine and be quickly scaled-up, on demand.

The consequences of ignoring the bioterrorist threat could be dire. For example, one recent study from the intelligence community projected that a two-to-four pound release of anthrax spores from a crop duster plane could kill more Americans than died in World War II. Clean-up and other economic costs could exceed $1.8 trillion. A large public investment today will greatly mitigate the risk posed by pandemic disease and terrorist attack alike.”

So we’ll ask Sen. Talent why the U.S. hasn’t taken advantage of these new methods.

Good afternoon readers and good afternoon Sen. Talent. We appreciate your being with us today….I’m not sure people realize that the commission you co-chair with Sen. Bob Graham has been concerned not only with conventional WMD threats but with some of the problems we ran into with the H1N1 vaccine. Could you elaborate on that and some of the issues you’ve been dealing with with regard to vaccine readiness?

Senator Jim Talent: Sure. There’s a close connection between public health and defense against biothreats because we would use the same infrastructure to respond to both. If we’re ready for pandemics, we’re more likely to be ready for a man made disease threat. And if we’re not ready for the one, we’re not ready for the other. So it concerns us that we had six months warning of H1N1 and nowhere near enough vaccine. How can we hope to respond to a terrorist attack using anthrax for which we will have no warning.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: I guess we were all too busy with other things to make that connection and we’re glad you did…It is kind of scary that there was so much confusion about the vaccine..Now for a reader question.

[Comment From Christopher Smith]

What can we do to improve our ability to stockpile vaccines?

Senator Jim Talent: The good news is that science does have the capability to produce vaccines faster. The biggest problem is that we’ve been using the same, slow technology for fifty years. Our video makes his point in depth. There are technologies already in use in China and Europe which move much quicker. They use cell based cultures. The government has set up programs to develop the necessary technology and stockpile not just vaccines but other medical countermeasures. But the programs have been underfunded. It’s frustrating that in an era when the government is spending so much in other areas it can not find the funding for programs so vital to our security.

[Comment From John Russell]

How does the government’s decision to cancel the anthrax vaccine impact preparedness and what does that mean for future countermeasures to protect the American people?

Senator Jim Talent: Well, the problem is bigger than a decision on any particular proposal. The need is to create within the government a greater sense of urgency on the subject in general. If one proposal won’t work, then others should be vigorously pursued.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Let me back up here a second. I’m doing a double take. After all this country has been through, is it the case that our government remains unaggressive on protecting us from these potential attacks…generally unaggressive and unresponsive?

Senator Jim Talent: Here is what I mean. The government’s main program for stockpiling vaccines needs 3 billion dollars per year. We have reliable studies that show for that amount there is a high probability of developing effective countermeasures for the pathogens terrorists will most likely use. Our Commission recommended at least 1.8 billion dollars. The government is funding the program at 300 million dollars. So yes, Fred, when it comes to the bio-threat (as opposed to the threat that nuclear weapons will be used), it’s fair to say that the government has not acted with nearly the necessary degree of urgency.

[Comment From Gerry]

What are your thoughts of terrorists using other forms of bio terror such as poisoning food supplies (even if it only causes a few deaths the economic impact of the fear could be huge), or other methods that are less directly threatening to people, but could have a huge impact (foot-mouth disease spread, etc)?

Senator Jim Talent: Remember that the better prepared we are for a bioattack, the less likely it is that such an attack will occur. The terrorists want to cause MASS destruction. If we have or can develop the necessary countermeasures quickly, and get them to the exposed populations in time, we can render biothreats less dangerous — they no longer will be weapons of Mass Destruction.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Sorry…I wanted to get back to the h1n1

Fred Barbash-Moderator: And ask you more about why the U.S. is so far behind other countries in producing these vaccines.

Senator Jim Talent: Gerry, your point is a good one. The threat of biological warfare includes attacks against food supplies that can at minimum cause tremendous economic damage. The mad cow infections (called BSE) in England caused billions of dollars of loss in their agricultural sector, and that wasn’t a deliberate attack, of course.

Senator Jim Talent: Several reasons we’re behind. Funding is one issue. Also, there’s been too strong a sense that the way we’re doing it is “good enough”. That’s not true even for natural epidemics, but especially dangerous in the context of the bio-threat. We need to be able to go from “bug to drug” in 24-48 hours — which means that, ideally, we could identify an attack, isolate the pathogen, and tap a stockpile or create the countermeasures in a matter of days. We would still need to distribute the countermeasures — another area where we are behind.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: What can citizens do, what can your commission do, to get more action on the part of state, fed and local govt. It seems outrageous that generally government has just kind of punted on these issues, frankly.

Senator Jim Talent: One problem is that the market for these kinds of drugs is, from the nature of the thing, uncertain. We can’t be certain that any particular countermeasure will ever be needed. That’s why the government has to participate more aggressively in the funding and development of the drugs.

Senator Jim Talent: Our commission is going to issue a report card on the government’s progress in this area. In fact, the report card will cover progress on all recommendations in our report. We issued an interim assessment several months ago that was not promising. The report card will be out in approximately a month to six weeks. We will also recommend steps that citizens can take to protect themselves and to hold government at all levels accountable. There is a lot that states and localities need to do as well. For example, we don’t have the surge capabity in a number of areas to deal with an attack.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Briefly, what did the interim asssessment say?

Senator Jim Talent: Fred, you’re right. The failures in this area are “outrageous”. We at the Commission have acknowledged everyone’s good will — everyone in government wants to stop these attacks, and this is one area, thank goodness, where they haven’t been partisan — but they just aren’t doing enough.

Senator Jim Talent: Briefly, the assessment was that the government is failing in its response to the bio-threat, but doing better in trying to stop a terrorist attack using a nuclear device.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Ok. Weve run out of time for this chat. I’d like to invite you and Sen. Graham back here when the next report is out for a discussion. This does seem to be an issue beyond party that everyone ought to be involved in, as everyone is vulnerable.

So from POLITICO, here’s the formal invitation.

Meanwhile, thatnks for being with us for this short time today and thank you for drawing attention to this, along with the rest of the commmission.

Senator Jim Talent: Fred, anyone wanting more information on these issues — and I hope they do — can access the Commission website, preventwmd.gov or the faster vaccines website.

Fred Barbash-Moderator: Thanks so much Senator. We’re pleased that someone is looking out for us…and thanks to all our readers for being with us today. We’ll be back on this subject when the commission issues its next report.

Meanwhile, so long for now.

Senator Jim Talent: Thanks.