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WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. government this week bought $290 million in supplies of a drug designed to treat blood cell injuries following radiological and nuclear emergencies as part of what it said were long-standing efforts to prepare for potential health impacts from threats to national security. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services purchased the drug Nplate from Amgen Inc. When asked whether the purchase, announced Tuesday, was linked to tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, an HHS spokesperson said it was part of ongoing efforts to prepare for a wide range of threats including chemical, biological, radiological,...

Two drugs increase survival of mice even after radiation exposure. Two anti-clotting compounds already approved for use in humans may have a surprising role in treating radiation sickness. The findings, reported online today in Nature Medicine, also reveal another avenue for understanding and treating the effects of radiation exposure. Last year's nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, renewed anxiety over the lack of treatments for radiation poisoning. It was long thought that the effects of exposure to high doses of radiation were instantaneous and irreversible, leading to destruction of the gut and loss of bone marrow cells, which damages blood-cell production...

Why do we have a Surgeon General? The position (which once used to involve running the Public Health Service) no longer carries any meaningful administrative responsibilities; it’s almost purely symbolic. The Surgeon General educates the public about various health-related issues. In practice, this generally means that Surgeons General act as secular preachers, wagging a finger at the American people for various vices like smoking and drinking. It is hard to see any real case for such a position in the federal government (a few years ago I argued in NR (subscription required) that the position should be eliminated or transformed...

Bacteria tails could protect against 'dirty' bomb 13:55 11 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Debora MacKenzie A drug made out of Salmonella can protect mice and monkeys from high doses of radiation. It might help protect rescuers who have to enter a radioactive area after attack with a nuclear or "dirty" bomb, and also cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. People die of radiation sickness when radiation kills cells lining the gut, as well as those in the bone marrow that gives rise to vital blood cells. The cells die because radiation activates the natural programme of cell death, apoptosis. Andrei...

Chongryon sites searched over drugs The Yomiuri Shimbun Police confront officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) at its Tokyo headquarters in Bunkyo Ward, on Monday morning.Police searched the Tokyo metropolitan headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and six other locations Monday in connection with a case in which a female Korean resident attempted to smuggle intravenous solutions from Japan to North Korea during a visit in May. The woman's husband is an executive of the Korean Association of Science and Technology in Japan, an organization affiliated with Chongryon. The woman,...

  (CBS) We can no longer ignore the worst-case scenario of a nuclear terrorist attack on an American city. Osama bin Laden has made it clear he wants to obtain nuclear weapons and use them against us. The 9/11 Commission considers such an attack the No. 1 threat today, not because it’s the most likely disaster scenario, but because it would be the most devastating. The chairman of the 9/11 Commission even says he expects to see such an attack on an American city in his lifetime. Hundreds of thousand of people could die in a nuclear attack, but hundreds...

WASHINGTON – Saying "the chance that an overt or covert terrorist attack involving radioactive materials will occur is an unfortunate reality in the United States today," the Centers for Disease Control is putting a new emphasis on preparing the public and health-care professionals for nuclear terrorism. Amid extensive resources published prominently on the CDC website is a new two-page brochure that can be printed titled, "Radiological Terrorism: Emergency Management Pocket Guide for Clinicians." The brochure was posted yesterday. "CDC would play a key role in protecting the public health during and after an emergency involving radiation or radioactive materials," the...

Toxic waste sickening Somalia04/03/2005 20:12  - (SA)   Related Articles Toxic waste on Somali beaches    Nairobi - Very toxic waste washed on to Somali's coastline by last December's tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, UN Environment Programme said on Friday. Citing initial reports, Unep spokesperson Nick Nuttall told AFP that "there are indications that harzardous waste, radioactive waste, chemical waste and other substances, (in containers) which have been dumped on the Somali coastline, were damaged by the tsunami". United Nations officials said the deadly waves, which originated off...

One factor in the third general terror alert raised in the United States since the September 11 relates according to US media, to intelligence information indicating the the former Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden has gained possession of a so-called dirty or radiological bomb. The target date referred to in electronic intercepts is Mid-December. It has also been suggested that such weapons may have smuggled into the United States.On Oct. 12 DEBKA-Net-Weekley reported from its intelligence sources that Bin Laden had almost certainly procured a supply of uranium -235 six months before the September 11 suicide attacks. The uranium was ...