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| 1 |
ID:
107472
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Recovering from a biological attack is a complex process requiring the successful resolution of numerous challenges. The Interagency Biological Restoration Demonstration program is one of the first multiagency efforts to develop strategies and tools that could be effective following a wide-area release of B. anthracis spores. Nevertheless, several key policy issues and associated science and technology issues still need to be addressed. For example, more refined risk assessment and management approaches are needed to help evaluate "true" public health risk. Once the risk is understood, that information can be considered along with the types of characterization activities deemed necessary to determine whether the cost and time of decontamination are actually warranted. This commentary offers 5 recommendations associated with decision making regarding decontamination and clearance options that should accompany a comprehensive risk analysis leading to more effective risk management decisions. It summarizes some of the most important technological gaps that still need to be addressed to help decision makers in their objective of reducing health risks to an acceptable level. The risk management approach described should enable decision makers to improve credibility and gain public acceptance, especially when an adequate science and technology base is available to support the required decisions.
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| 2 |
ID:
107468
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| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
T
he prospect of cleaning and decontaminating a U.S. city after a wide-area biological attack is a daunting challenge.
Ten years after the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, the U.S. is still striving to understand and prepare for biological
remediation. As evidenced by the Amerithrax attacks, biological clean-up efforts are inherently time-consuming and costly.
Yet, the 2001 remediation response, which involved only a handful of heavily contaminated buildings, would pale in
comparison to a wide-area anthrax attack involving thousands of contaminated properties and outdoor spaces.
Faced with this challenge, policymakers and public of?cials are working to reduce the time and cost of remediation, to
limit public health risk, and to minimize long-term economic damage from such an event.
This special feature on biological remediation highlights the recent work and ?ndings of the Interagency Biological
Restoration Demonstration program (IBRD), a 4-year program jointly managed and funded by the Department of
Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) and the Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense
Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The program is aimed at reducing the amount of time and resources needed to recover
from an intentional wide-area urban release of Bacillus anthracis.
Topics for this special feature include regional and national recovery frameworks, the role of the private sector in
decontamination, the behavior of aerosolized B. anthracis, recommended approaches to decontamination for indoor and
outdoor spaces, and disposal of anthrax-contaminated waste. This feature is not intended to be a comprehensive review of
the work done under IBRD. Instead, it highlights some of IBRD's major accomplishments and ?ndings over the past 4
years of the project. This feature represents the ?rst publication of IBRD materials on remediation planning and response
frameworks, and the ?rst time that the public will have ready, open access to the results of IBRD remediation studies.
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