DiploVirus Diplomatic viruses Video showing how diplomatic immunity is used to move pathogens round the globe. GovBola 176 mentions of "Ebola" in the GovTribe website Mesurier White helmets founder dies in mysterious circumstances His life was praised by the chemical weapons community. Not a joke. us Deadly Germ Research Is Shut Down at Army Lab Over Safety Concerns Safety concerns at a prominent military germ lab have led the government to shut down research involving dangerous microbes like the Ebola virus. “Research is currently on hold,” the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, in Fort Detrick, Md., said in a statement on Friday. The shutdown is likely to last months, Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman, said in an interview. The statement said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to issue a “cease and desist order” last month to halt the research at Fort Detrick because the center did not have “sufficient systems in place to decontaminate wastewater” from its highest-security labs. In the statement, the C.D.C. cited “national security reasons” as the rationale for not releasing information about its decision. The shutdown affects a significant portion of the research normally conducted there, Ms. Vander Linden said. The suspended research involves certain toxins, along with germs called select agents, which the government has determined have “the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products.” There are 67 select agents and toxins; examples include the organisms that cause Ebola, smallpox, anthrax and plague, and the poison ricin. Tiblisi US diplomats involved in trafficking of human blood and Brucella pathogens for secret military program Pentagon biowarfare lab in residential Georgia neighborhood.

opcw Turns out, they lied. Leak Leaked email shows OPCW distortions: "Crucial facts “...have morphed into something quite different to what was originally drafted.” Opcw The OPCW and Douma: Chemical Weapons Watchdog Accused of Evidence-Tampering by Its Own Inspectors Wikileaks exposes malfeasance in the OPCW. canada Canadian government scientist under investigation trained staff at Level 4 lab in China A Canadian government scientist at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg made at least five trips to China in 2017-18, including one to train scientists and technicians at China's newly certified Level 4 lab, which does research with the most deadly pathogens, according to travel documents obtained by CBC News. Xiangguo Qiu — who was escorted out of the Winnipeg lab in July amid an RCMP investigation into what's being described by Public Health Agency of Canada as a possible "policy breach" — was invited to go to the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences twice a year for two years, for up to two weeks each time. "This will be third-party funded, and therefore no cost to [the Public Health Agency of Canada]," say the documents, obtained through access to information requests. The identity of the third-party was redacted. During a Sept. 19-30, 2017, trip, she also met with collaborators in Beijing, the documents say, but their names have also been blacked out. Qiu, her husband Keding Cheng and her students from China were removed on July 5 from Canada's only Level 4 lab — one equipped to work with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases, such as Ebola. Security access for the couple and the Chinese students was revoked, sources who work at the lab previously told CBC News. People working inside the lab told CBC News this week they have heard the couple may return to work soon. Qiu is a medical doctor and virologist who helped develop ZMapp — a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014-2016 and saw an outbreak in Congo earlier this year. She is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She is still affiliated with the university there and has brought in many students over the years to help with her work. brucella Chinese institutes investigate pathogen outbreaks in lab workers Students and staff at two research institutes have tested positive to the Brucella bacterium, which can lead to serious complications. us-compliance Adherence to and compliance with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments. - US State Depeartment "Russia also alleged that certain U.S.-registered patents are for “devices that appear to be prohibited by the BWC, as well as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).” In the United States, a patent does not confer any legal right or authorization to produce an invention; patent rights simply serve to give the patent owner the legal means to exclude other parties from taking certain actions with respect to that invention. The United States has a comprehensive legal regime to implement its obligations under Article IV of the BWC and Article VII of the CWC. These laws make clear that, inter alia, the development and production of a biological or chemical weapon is prohibited under U.S. law, and any violation of those laws is punishable by penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment. No patent approval does – or could – convey authority to conduct activity that contravenes these clear rules (page 6)" "The original deadline of 2012 could not be met because changes in U.S. law required further research and development into alternative chemical weapons destruction methods, other than transport and incineration. The United States has completed destruction of its Category 2 and 3 chemical weapons and has completed destruction of more than 90 percent of its Category 1 chemical weapons stockpile. There are two CW destruction facilities, one located in Pueblo, Colorado, and one in Blue Grass, Kentucky, that are scheduled to complete destruction of the remaining stockpile not later than December 31, 2023. Neutralization is used as the primary destruction technology at both sites. Additionally, explosive destruction technologies are used to enhance safety, while accelerating destruction schedules at both sites."