Report says public health labs unprepared for chemical attack

U.S. security officials and lawmakers have long fretted over the possibility of chemical or biological terrorism in the United States, but the public health system remains "woefully unprepared" to deal with such an attack, according to a study released Wednesday by a public health group.

"Thirty years of inadequate training, staffing, equipment and funding have left our public health system in serious disrepair," according to the report from Trust for America's Health. U.S. leaders have made repeated efforts to meet the terrorist WMD threat, but the report says "America's public health system is not up to the job."

The report conducted a state-by-state analysis of public health facilities and found that laboratories suffered from inadequate staffing, obsolete facilities and poor communications.

Trust for America's Health called on lawmakers to allocate $200 million annually through fiscal 2006 to upgrade state public health laboratories and prepare them for a chemical or biological attack. Thereafter, Congress should spend $100 million each year, according to the organization.

The findings received some support from Congress.

"This report is further evidence that 20 months after Sept. 11, we are still not prepared to deal with a chemical attack … our public health laboratories clearly need help if we expect them to be up to the task," said Senator Jon Corzine (D-N.J.).

CDC Says Improvements Are Coming

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must set standards for chemical testing and training, the report says.

CDC officials have read the report and agree with its recommendations, CDC spokesman Von Roebuck told GSN Wednesday.

"We recognize there is work to be done," Roebuck said. The CDC recently sent terrorism preparedness guidance to the states along with grant money, and chemical preparedness is part of that, he added. There are numerous public health issues, however, and the CDC cannot focus entirely on the possibility of chemical attacks.

"I wouldn't say that the whole thing is centered around chemical" agents, Roebuck said of the guidance. He also noted that the CDC can recommend action, but "we have to work within the state systems. It's a collaboration."

When asked if the chemical portion of the guidance is a priority, Roebuck said that "everything in it is a priority."

Chemical Analysis Lacking

Researchers surveyed five state laboratory directors and found that technicians are prepared to test for more common health risks, such as mercury or lead, but not for a wide range of chemicals that are likely to be used in a chemical attack. None of the laboratories surveyed could test for incapacitating gases or blister and nerve agents, such as VX gas or sarin.

The report cited a situation from a Boston Celtics professional basketball game this year in which pepper spray or mace was released as a prank and players were forced to cover their faces with towels and warm-up clothes. If the gas had been a lethal chemical agent, officials would probably not have been able to identify it quickly enough to take appropriate medical action, according to the report.

In the report's imagined scenario involving a deadly gas, "a crew of terrorists sitting behind the home team's bench spray a noxious chemical. Instead of momentary gagging, players and fans in the immediate vicinity begin choking … at this point, the survival of all those exposed depends upon prompt, proper identification of the hazardous substance."