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
5
Major
research questions that must be answered to improve decontamination
There
are a number of areas of research that are important. Certainly,
it is difficult to protect people against biological agents
when you have so little information about how they move
in buildings, and in the general environment. Here are a
few of the areas that I think are important in the short
term: |
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- A
protocol for sampling buildings: Develop statistically based
approaches to sampling HVAC systems and locations within buildings
- Exposures
of postal workers and mail handlers: Use personal monitoring
to assess the levels of respirable dust in the immediate vicinity
of people who work with large volumes of mail. This could have
immediate implications for intervening to protect people.
- Contamination
in the mail: Use surrogate organisms to assess how anthrax spores
are released from the mail, in mail handling and processing.
This would help understand spore concentrations and spread in
the air, on surfaces, on mail, and on the clothing of mail workers.
- Development
of methods for decontamination buildings: Along with the development
of decontamination methods, it should be considered whether
there are modifications of building design and work practices,
as well as means to more quickly identify hazards, that can
be put in place to prevent or minimize contamination of buildings.
- Risk
communication: How do we communicate the straight facts to the
public, without sowing terror and fear (which is, of course
the real object of terrorists)? How do we talk to children about
these issues? This time is an opportunity to generate knowledge
in this area that will be essential to improving how these crises
are handled in the future.
Next
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statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
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