CD105: Anthrax

Congressional Dish

Jennifer Briney

News, Congress, Government, Politics, Corporations

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2015

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In July, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would allow expiring anthrax vaccines to be given to civilian emergency responders within the United States. The question: Is that vaccine safe? In this episode, we look at the history of the anthrax vaccine and the results of the investigation into the only anthrax attack on the United States: The anthrax laced letters which were mailed to members of the mainstream media and Congress in September and October 2001. Last, an update on the current security of the United States' anthrax supplies. Warning: This episode contains disturbing information. Executive Producer: Brandon Shipley Please support Congressional Dish: to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! The Bill : First Responder Anthrax Preparedness Act Summary: . for distributing anthrax vaccines that will soon expire to emergency responders who volunteer to accept them. a program for tracking the vaccines. a two year pilot program, in at least two states, for distributing the vaccines. Passed the House of Representatives Sponsored by of New York Additional Reading Anthrax Vaccine Website: , Emergent BioSolutions. Article: by Warren Leary, New York Times, May 7, 1994. Article: by Laura Rozen, Salon, October 14, 2001. Report: by Barbara Loe Fisher, National Vaccine Information Center, December 2001. Article: by Michael Smith, The Telegraph, August 12, 2004. FDA Document: by Meryl Nass MD, December 29, 2004. Report: by Martin Meyer Weiss, MD, Peter D. Weiss, MD, and Joseph B. Weiss, MD, American Journal of Public Health, November 2007. Article: by Diana Washington Valdez, El Paso Times (republished on Military.com), April 21, 2014. Report: by Frank Gottron, Congressional Research Service, June 18, 2014. Report: Website: , OpenSecrets.org Website: , OpenSecrets.org 2001 Anthrax Attacks Article: by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, and William J. Broad, New York Times, September 4, 2001. Article: by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal and R. James Woolsey (reprinted by Free Republic), October 17, 2001. Article: by Richard Cohen, Washington Post, October 18, 2001. Article: by Richard Butler, New York Times, October 18, 2001. Article: by Debora MacKenzie, New Scientist, October 24, 2001. Article: by Scott Shane and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, August 6, 2008. Article: by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, August 8, 2008. Department of Justice Report: , U.S. Department of Justice, February 19, 2010. Press Release: , U.S. Department of Justice, February 19, 2010. F.B.I. Document Directory: Article: , NPR, February 15, 2011. Article: by Noah Shachtman, Wired, March 24, 2011. Article: by Nicholaus Mills, The Guardian, September 15, 2011. Article: by Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica, Greg Gordon of McClatchy, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser of PBS Frontline, October 10, 2011. Article: by Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica, Greg Gordon of McClatchy, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser of PBS Frontline, October 10, 2011. GAO Report: , Government Accountability Office, December 2014. Article: by Rebecca Trager, Scientific American, December 29, 2014. Article: , CNN, May 23, 2015. The Patriot Act Article: by John Lancaster, The Washington Post, October 3, 2001. Article: by Paul Blumenthal, Sunlight Foundation, March 2, 2009. Live Anthrax Shipments Article: by Paul Shinkman, US News & World Report, May 27, 2015. Article: by Richard Sisk, Military.com, September 1, 2015. Audio/Video Sources Press Conference: , Department of Defense, (broadcast on C-SPAN), June 28, 2002. Press Conference with Dr. Steven Hatfill: , C-SPAN, August 25, 2002. United Nations Security Council Meeting: , United Nations Security Council (broadcast on C-SPAN), February 5, 2003. Hearing: , House Judiciary Committee (broadcast on C-SPAN), September 16, 2008. Hearing: , Senate Judiciary Committee (broadcast on C-SPAN), September 17, 2008. YouTube: , uploaded July 7, 2009. Press Conference: , National Academy of Sciences (broadcast on C-SPAN), February 15, 2011. Television Episode: by PBS Frontline, October 11, 2011. Hearing: , House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (broadcast on C-SPAN), July 28, 2015. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: by (found on by mevio)

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am so damn tired of being like to
0:08.7	I don't think I can't deny it anymore.
0:15.0	You can't stick to your story if you think it flies but I'm not going to buy it anymore.
0:31.0	Hey there friends,
0:32.0	welcome to the hundred and fifth episode of the new and
0:34.7	improved congressional dish I'm your host Jennifer Briny and I hope you guys have your
0:39.2	hand sanitizer ready because this episode is about anthrax.
0:43.0	Ew.
0:44.0	And you know, this whole rabbit hole, it all started with a bill, a very simple bill.
0:49.0	It was easy to read, it was simple and understand, it was only six pages.
0:52.0	And the bill I'm talking about is H.R. 1300. The first responder anthrax Preparedness Act
0:58.0	which passed the House of Representatives 424 to zero on July 29th. This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of
1:05.9	2002 to create a program for distributing anthrax vaccines which are about to
1:10.5	expire to domestic emergency responders who volunteer to accept
1:14.6	them. The vaccines would be distributed through a two-year pilot program based in at
1:18.8	least two states. Part of this pilot program would be an ad campaign informing people of their opportunity to receive the almost expired vaccines
1:27.8	and would also include educational materials telling our emergency responders about the risks of taking the vaccine.
1:34.4	So reading this bill, I immediately thought of one of my best friends.
1:37.2	He's a firefighter and a two-time Iraq war veteran.
1:40.2	And he's perfectly fine with putting himself in harm's way to save someone else's life.
1:45.0	Quite frankly, he's a better person than I am.
1:47.0	Because the thought of taking some expiring vaccine for anthrax of all things and jamming it in my arm? Nope, never in a million years.
	...

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