Published Date: 1998-02-22 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> Anthrax, vaccines - Russia (02)
Archive Number: 19980222.0346

ANTHRAX VACCINES - RUSSIA (02)
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Anthrax vaccines - Russia 980216185645
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 21:41:31 -0400
From: Meryl Nass <mnass@igc.apc.org>

[Meryl sent in an AP communication of 13th February in relation to the
Obolensk paper. The repetitive material has been edited out. - MHJ
"Ever since the dawn of the age of genetic engineering, there's always been
a speculation that somebody could always make designer bugs," said Col.
Gerald Parker, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases in Frederick, MD. But he cautioned: "It's one thing to
do this in the lab, but it's a whole different thing to produce it in large
quantities to be used as a weapon. That would be very difficult."
At least 10 countries, including Iraq, are believed to have the capacity to
load weapons with dry, powdered anthrax. The disease normally afflicts
animals like cattle and sheep, but can cause severe illness and death in
humans who inhale large doses. Parker said Army scientists had no knowledge
that Iraq also had developed this new organism - the first known genetically
engineered potential biological warfare threat.

"The evidence that they presented suggested that it could be resistant to
our vaccine," said Col. Arthur Friedlander, chief of the bacteriology
division at the institute. "We need to get hold of this strain to test it
against our vaccine. We need to understand how this new organism causes
disease and we need to test it in animals other than hamsters that the
Russians used."

It is unclear whether the Russian researchers developed the new organism for
offensive or defensive purposes. The Russian Federation is a signatory to
the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, banning the development, production
and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. The convention has no
provisions for enforcement, but the U.N. Secretary - General has the
authority to investigate complaints of violations. The last time the
secretary-general investigated an alleged infraction was in the late 1980s
when Iran complained that Iraq was using chemical weapons, according to the
U.N. department for disarmament affairs in New York.
Friedlander says it appears the Russian researchers had some scientific
rationale for developing the new organism to improve the Russian vaccine,
which is different than the American vaccine. "But in the course of doing
the study, they genetically engineered a strain that's resistant to their
own vaccine and one has to question why that was done. That's the disturbing
feature here," Friedlander said.

He said the Defense Department is working through diplomatic and other
channels to get the Russians to share their genetically engineered organism
and other naturally occurring strains of anthrax with U.S. anthrax experts.
Friedlander and other biological warfare experts are confident that American
vaccine, based on a protein called protective antigen, can protect troops
against any anthrax strain that relies on this protein to facilitate damage
to white blood cells.

They are more uneasy about the Russian organism, which contains two
non-anthrax genes that change the organism and may alter the way in which it
causes disease. If this is the case, it is conceivable that the current
American vaccine would not be effective against this genetically engineered,
new organism that is not really anthrax anymore, he says.
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[The technigues involved in this Obolensk research are not complex and US
visitors to that complex have been informed of their research with this gene
sequence and others. Recent Obolensk visitors to the USA have also briefed
their US counterparts. However, one must wonder why they were doing this
research. I hope that the Russians will share this and their field strains
with us as there is much to be learnt. -Mod.MHJ
......................................mhj/es
--
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