The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PREPARING FOR BIOTERRORISM IN SOUTH DAKOTA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S10634-S10635 on Oct. 11, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PREPARING FOR BIOTERRORISM IN SOUTH DAKOTA
Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Senator John Edwards, and Senator Chuck Hagel, in supporting legislation to help South Dakotans prepare for possible bioterrorist attacks. The recent example of anthrax being reported in Florida has highlighted the importance of being prepared to combat bioterrorism in our communities.
Now this doesn't mean that everyone should run out and buy a gas mask. Successful attacks using germs and chemicals are relatively difficult to accomplish and rarely attempted.
However, the nature of such an attack makes just one successful act of bioterrorism unique and incredibly damaging. For example, most of the germs involved in bioterrorism, anthrax and smallpox to name a few, are so rare that many medical professionals haven't treated them before. Symptoms may not be visible for days or weeks, and these diseases can be spread easily among people.
In addition to threatening people, bioterrorism can also cripple our State's agriculture economy. We all saw this summer how the threat of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States can directly impact South Dakota's ag business.
The risk of an agriculture terrorist attack poses a serious threat to our economy as well as our abundant food supply. An agricultural terrorist could introduce a pathogen to a certain crop and decimate that crop's yield. A quickly-spreading animal disease intentionally introduced could cause economic ruin to States that depend on revenues from the livestock industry.
Earlier this week, the nonpartisan General Accounting Office, GAO, reported that coordination is fragmented between 40 Federal departments and agencies responsible for responding to a bioterrorist attack.
The GAO report also noted insufficient State and local planning for response to terrorist attacks. In addition, while spending on domestic preparedness for terrorist attacks has risen 310 percent since 1998, only a portion of these funds were used to conduct research on and prepare for the public health and medical consequences of a bioterrorist attack.
To better address the needs of State and local communities in dealing with the threat of bioterrorism, I recently joined Senators Edwards and Hagel on legislation called the Biological and Chemical Weapons Preparedness Act.
Our legislation provides $1.6 billion in new resources for Federal, State, and local efforts, including $450 million specifically for agricultural counter-terrorism and food safety measures.
Too often, bioterrorism funding has been tied up in the bureaucracy of Washington, and I'm pleased that our legislation sends over one-
third of these funds, $555 million, directly to States and local governments through new block grants. Our legislation gives States and local communities the resources to study the problems unique to them and implement appropriate solutions.
Our legislation would accomplish six goals. First, we would provide training and equipment to State and local ``first responders,'' such as emergency medical personnel, law enforcement officials, fire fighters, physicians, and nurses, to recognize and respond to biological and chemical attacks
Second, our bill strengthens the local public health network through increased training, coordination, and additional specialized equipment.
Third, we protect food safety and the agricultural economy by providing assistance to States to better coordinate with law enforcement and public health officials, increase training and awareness among farmers and other agricultural stakeholders. Our measure would also give States the resources they need to establish emergency diagnostic facilities to work in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's facility to quickly diagnose animal diseases. Along with this assistance to States, the measure would provide additional funds for the USDA's counterterrorism efforts.
Fourth, the legislation assists local hospital emergency rooms with response training and biocontainment and decontamination capabilities.
Fifth, we address the need to develop and stockpile vaccines and antibiotics.
Finally, our Biological and Chemical Weapons Preparedness Act enhances disease surveillance between the Centers for Disease Control, CDC, and State and local public health services to provide electronic nationwide access to critical data, treatment guidelines, and alerts.
Our legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and there have already been a handful of hearings held so far. I anticipate a number of proposals, similar to ours, being discussed and a compromise ultimately being sent to the President this year.
I will continue to work to ensure that the provisions in our legislation dealing with rural communities and agriculture remain in a final version that is signed into law by the President.
____________________
