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EU Set Up Network of Experts to Deal With Biological, Cehmical Attacks
The European Union (EU) decided Friday to set up a network of emergency experts and agreed to share data on available vaccines and antidotes in a bid to deal with biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.
As fears continued to grow in the Western world of follow-up attacks to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, civil protection units from across EU member states agreed to pool their expertise in case of biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.
The EU government representatives, meeting in Knokke, Belgium, said that by October 31 they would set up a dedicated phone network to ensure 24-hour contacts were possible between national bodies.
They also promised to put in place a systematic information exchange for news on accidents or terror threats. In December, the EU will organize a workshop to consider longer-term measures, the European Commission said in a statement.
Fears that biological threats could be used increased Friday when an employee of a television news channel in New York was tested positive for skin anthrax. Three people in Florida recently contracted respiratory anthrax, one of whom died. None of the cases has been conclusively linked to terrorism.
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