Research
Biological Warfare
The Decontamination of Anthrax and Other Biological Agents
Testimony
of Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MPH
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore,
MD
Thursday, November 8, 2001
2318 Rayburn House Office Building
Part
6
Public
Health Science
Efforts
that already are underway in the area of development of
vaccines and therapeutics against potential agents of bioterrorism
are very important. In this regards, it is important to
assure that children will be considered. As the mother of
a five year old daughter, I worry that, should the need
to arise to vaccinate for anthrax, that there is no FDA
approved vaccine or dosage regimen for children. It is critical
that such efforts use the same safety framework that I discussed
above. That is, vaccinations and antibiotics need to be
delivered in a manner that assures that we "first do no
harm." One way to do this will be to improve our ability
to diagnose exposure, and early illness, in people. In the
short term, since we lack such tools, we need research on
the acquisition of resistance to antibiotics by anthrax
and other pathogens, as a consequence of the widespread
use of antibiotics for prophylaxis. |
|
Most
critical is the need to strengthen our nation's public health
systems. What will be the next attack? Will it be anthrax, another
organism, or chemicals? Our public health system, which includes
epidemiology investigators at the federal, state and local level,
laboratory capacity, and data tracking systems, is in disarray.
In 1988, the Institute of Medicine called for a fundamental overhaul.
The nation has ignored this call and today we are living with
the consequences. We need to strengthen our system for delivery
of public health, as well as the training and development of the
public health workforce. We need to strengthen our academic schools
of public health so that they can provide the research, and the
highly trained workforce, so that we can successfully defend ourselves
from the threat of bioterrorism.
This
is a large and complex issue. I appreciate your interest. Thank
you again for the opportunity to testify today.
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