Official stockpiles

BWC—Officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. The BWC works toward general and complete disarmament, including the prohibition and elimination of all types of weapons of mass destruction. 

Recommendation 4-4. The Army should make a greater effort to educate the public about possible disposal processes, as well as the relative risk of continued stockpile storage versus disposal. Army officials responsible for the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program, in close coordination with the... 

The threat of a bioterrorist attack with smallpox is especially disturbing since the eradication of smallpox remains one of the great achievements in human history. Unfortunately, since routine vaccination against smallpox was discontinued in 1978, few people retain immunity today. Although there are only two official repositories of the smallpox virus today, it is still possible that terrorists will be able to obtain the virus. Thus, the government has had to stockpile supplies of the vaccine, and there is some debate about whether to resume routine smallpox vaccinations. Although the smallpox vaccine was discovered by accident, the story of how Louis Pasteur developed the first anthrax vaccine and his use of unvaccinated animals as controls remain as excellent lessons about the process of science (Trachtman 2002). 

It should also be noted that since the end of the Cold War, official military stockpiles of nuclear (and other) weapons have been diminished, by international agreement. At the same time, acquisition or fabrication of nuclear devices by nongovernmental terrorist groups or individual states has become a matter of increased concern. 

Terrorists may attempt to use drug resistant organisms in their attack. Obviously, it is imperative to obtain the appropriate specimens, perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing of isolates promptly, and alter mass treatment accordingly (43). All antibiotics useful in treating tularemia are included in the strategic national stockpile. Chapter 6 discusses how public health officials will implement mass treatment plans, and how they will involve primary care physicians. 

The Pueblo Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office maintains a mailing list of more than 2,000 people, publishes a newsletter and project updates, and runs a speakers bureau that makes presentations to civic groups, business organizations, local officials, and more than 3,000 students each year. In particular, the committee is pleased with the outreach office s efforts to inform difficult-to-reach constituencies, such as Spanish-speaking migrant workers in the community of Avondale, near PCD. The outreach office also supports the quasi-govemmental local reuse authority, which is planning for the reuse of PCD real estate once demilitarization is completed. 

Douglas M. Medville, Vice Chair, retired from MITRE as program leader for chemical materiel disposal and remediation. He has led many analyses of risk, process engineering, transportation, and alternative disposal technologies and has briefed the public and senior military officials on the results. Mr. Medville was responsible for evaluating the reliability and performance of the demilitarization machines used by the Army to disassemble stockpile chemical munitions and wrote several test plans and protocols for alternative chemical munition disposal technologies. He also led... 

After the Army s proposed UCAR was presented to Utah officials, it was provided to other states that were interested in evaluating its provisions, primarily the stockpile states. Some states, including Utah, looked at the Army s proposed UCAR very carefully, but to date, no state has officially adopted it, or any parts of it. 

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