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US Plans to Produce New Strain of Anthrax
The United States plans to develop a new anthrax strain to test the effectiveness of its vaccines against the deadly biological agent, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
No actual agents had been produced yet in the "defensive" program, which has been going on for at least four years, but there were plans to develop agents to cause such diseases as a new and virulent strain of anthrax within the restrictions of the 1972 international Biological Weapons Convention, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said at a press conference.
"We plan to proceed" once internal legal reviews have been completed and Congress has been fully informed, Clarke said.
She claimed that administration lawyers have concluded that it would be permitted under the 1972 treaty that bans biological weapons but allows research for defensive purposes.
"We have a vaccine that works against a known anthrax strain. What we want to do is make sure we are prepared for any surprises, for anything that might happen that might be a threat," she said.
The project is part of a secret research effort by the U.S. intelligence agencies in response to growing fears of deadly germ warfare attacks by rogue states or terrorists.
Earlier, the White House acknowledged that the United States has spent years conducting secret research on biological weapons with the goal of developing a vaccine to protect U.S. soldiers from attacks.
The research is "purely defense and falls within limits set by a 1972 treaty aiming to curb development and use of such arms, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer claimed.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the research, kicked off under the Clinton administration, pushes the limits of that treaty, which allows nations to work on vaccines and other protective measures.
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