On November 20-22, national attention was focused on Tucson, Arizona, as the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) drill was underway. Governor Jane Dee Hull and Surgeon General Richard Carmona spoke, celebrating the passage of the Homeland Security Act and the preparedness that our State was about to demonstrate to the world. A Naval Research Laboratory communications Humvee was parked outside, and numerous network television crews rolled tape inside. Part of one of the nation's inventory of twelve ``12-hour push packs'' was delivered. Public health staff demonstrated their ability to give a tetanus shot to a schoolchild every 8 seconds, and fake antibiotic tablets were dispensed.
In the most dramatic part of the scenario-a mock anthrax attack at two locations in Arizona-a uniformed man rushed into the MMRS meeting room and sprayed the contents of a fire extinguisher. (The initial plan of a surprise entry by a masked man was said to have been nixed out of fear that an attendee might stop the ``attack'' with a display of deadly force.) Police ``apprehended'' the attacker.
The response, discussed but not implemented, was to cordon off the area and collect contact information on all occupants of the conference room in the event that tests of the material proved positive. Fire department personnel at our table suggested trying to trigger the smoke alarm and activate the sprinkler system. (Breaking one of the light bulbs would just activate the local sprinkler, we were told.) Not a good idea, one person remarked: the water in the dead-end pipes supplying the system might be contaminated with Legionella. How much would the water diminish the inhalation of deadly anthrax-laden microparticles? Have tests been done?
Peter Kelly, M.D., described the effects of the 2001 anthrax letters-which are still being felt, as in delayed mail deliveries to the nation's capital. There were 22 cases, mostly cutaneous. Antibiotic prophylaxis was offered to 10,000 persons, of whom 44% completed a 60-day course. The effects of the 1979 release at the Soviet biowarfare plant in Sverdlovsk (see Civil Defense Perspectives Nov 2001), are apparently still in dispute. Dr. Kelly cited 96 cases, while Igor Shafhid, M.D., formerly of the Soviet Army and now at Nevada Operations, National Security Office, Bechtel Nevada, claimed a thousand ``unofficial'' deaths in soldiers and prisoners, with secondary casualties attributed to cremating corpses. (Also see Mangold T, Goldberg J, Plague Wars, St. Martin's Griffin, 1999.)
U.S. preparedness for an attack with the standard biological agents known for decades or centuries is improved-compared with ten years ago. But what is the state of our overall homeland security?
For nuclear threats, the Surgeon General reassured us that a ``dirty bomb'' would probably expose people to the equivalent of a few extra chest x-rays-plus psychological effects. While nuclear weapons have apparently fallen off the radar screen, fire engines in D.C. will be carrying ``dirty bomb detectors''-as soon as the 200 recently discovered 1960s civil defense meters can be calibrated in New Jersey, one of the few States still providing this service (ASDA Newsletter Jul/Aug 2002).
Equipment usable by civilians includes a $499 chemistry set with enough reagents to test 50 samples to distinguish materials such as sugar from something that needs to be sent to the State public health department.
Government-sponsored instructions include a glossy flyer with cute cartoons prepared by the District of Columbia Emergency Management Agency. ``Shelter-in-place,'' it says, ``involves simply staying in your house or inside any other location you might be, as to avoid harm.'' Alternately, you might be advised to evacuate, and for this you need a ``go kit,'' with up to a 5-day supply of food and water for the family, and at least two weeks of food, water, and food bowls for your pets. The words ``radiological emergency'' occur once-with no specifics.
The much-touted Homeland Security Act contains none of the urgent measures discussed by Lowell Wood at our 2002 annual meeting in the 484 pages rushed to passage without hearings, debate, or an opportunity for congressmen to read the bill. These are the major provisions:
The perpetrator in the MMRS scenario was wanted by the FBI as a suspected ``member of the domestic terrorist organization Heroes of Liberty, which is dedicated to the overthrow of the U.S. government.'' Such a threat seems to be the primary focus of Homeland Security. Thus the Total Information Awareness System ``will allow someone to build a complete dossier on virtually any person in seconds,'' stated computer security expert Allen Eagleton (Capitol Hill Blue 11/21/02). As the Latin motto posted in the office of Rear Admiral John Poindexter, who heads the project, reads: ``Scientia est potentia'' (knowledge is power) (Wash Times 11/22/02).
Dr. Carmona observed, ``Every citizen in Israel is a first responder.'' Not so in America-citizens are government dependents, if not suspected terrorists. Not even the basic decision of whether to receive (or prescribe) a vaccine at their own risk is to be left in their hands. And the coveted knowledge base is not related to protecting citizens against the effects of weapons of mass destruction, but to protecting government against its own citizens.
For a collection of documents and links pertaining to the Homeland Security Act and the biowarfare threat, see www.aapsonline.org.
The 2003 meeting of DDP will be in Phoenix, AZ, at the airport Marriott, Saturday, July 12-Sunday, July 13. A special group tour will be organized for the preceding Friday or following Monday.
DDP, 1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9, Tucson, AZ 85716, (520)325-2680, www.oism.org/ddp.