BIOTERRORISM: U.S. Pushes to Standardize Collection of Biothreat Samples

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology on Tuesday said it is collaborating with the National Guard to ensure that federal, state and local emergency response personnel are trained to collect disease materials for analysis in accordance with recently adopted procedures (see GSN, Aug. 1).

photo courtesy DoD

“The aim of the operation is to provide a training lane that can help standardize the interface between initial local, state and federal responders to make sure everyone gets what they need from a collected sample of suspicious material, including providing a solid chain of custody,” NIST environmental engineer Jayne Morrow, who headed preparation of the collection protocol issued in 2010, said in a statement.

“Our goal here at NIST is to help integrate standards and training so that everyone from first responders to investigators knows they can rely on that sample,” Morrow said.

The National Guard operates 57 Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams established to back up civilian response efforts in the event a WMD attack (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2010).  Read more