Birds/Fish Die-Off: Chemtrails, Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy, VX, Corexit...

[citizenx]

Good catch, Phasma.

[37]

And what's your point? 

I don't see any connection, did I miss something? 

[citizenx]

CS Monitor admits/implies they were related in this case -- or at least could be?

Just a bunch of dead animals.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

[Vinyard]

Now there's dead bats in Arizona. 70 of them.
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13800221

[citizenx]

Blue tint in mouths could be from potassium cyanide,a deadly poison used,to kill 1000s of doves in Italy?

 Jan 6, 2011 6:19pm by Patty
Italian news is reporting on the death of thousands of doves who may have died from choking, cyanide poisoning or rat poisoning, but why and by whom? Are all these recent bird and fish deaths somehow related; could terrorists be testing chemical/biological weapons? Or is there a higher power involved in the deaths or is it a natural coincidence?

Italian to English translation


GEAPRESS - There are certainly many hundreds, probably thousands, the collared dove who are dying at this moment in Faenza. They are in heaps in the flower beds, crushed by machinery in the streets, horribly hung from trees like Christmas balls. Many, many more, say the property information in the fenced land for industrial use.

The WWF has other collections, not all already dead. A dozen, in fact, have been sent to the Center of Recovery The Robin of Modena, where those arriving are still alive but died shortly after. Over all a mystery. Inside the beak, in some animals, the staining was of a strange blue.

What could have caused it? Both the Doves collected by the Forestry that those sent by the WWF to the Center of Modena, have been delivered to 'Istituto Zooprofilattico Emilia Romagna and Lombardy. Nobody, however, you want to say and for the analysis may take a week. Turtledove is possible that the death of a stomach ache ...? So someone would have argued (see article GeaPress). In general, the blue is a sign of hypoxia, caused for example by suffocation. The bluish tint, however, is also typical of potassium cyanide, a deadly poison used, for example, from poachers. Cyanide, however, also causes hypoxia, .... maybe a dove with an upset stomach dies suffocated. Another poison appears bluish in some types of rat poison grains. Of course I believe that the Doves have died choking, it is a bit 'difficult. And why only them? On the site there are only them, but the pigeons in other places likely to eat the same seed meets certain industries to be stacked in Faenza? They do not die from choking?

Yesterday, the Forest Service is back in place to continue the investigation and make further levies on products stored near the areas where the die-off occurred.

A blurt is the WWF of Faenza and its President George Sunset point the finger right on the controls of the City and County, in its very poor. According to Sunset, in those places, is not the first time you record these die-offs. The Collared Dove is practically the only species that will go there, and promptly dies.

"Never before this year - says Tramonti - the one that occurred in these days is a memory at least not" normal. " It's about time to clarify these indigestion ... We also call on citizens to immediately counter the WWF headquarters in Faenza any infringement on the environment and animals. "

Of course the Doves, to see photos of the Forest in the previous article GeaPress spread, people flocked to, a sign of the wide availability of food and the possible nuisance caused by their droppings. To be sure, but if you work in those factories seeds or parts thereof for human consumption, should be prevented from contact with animals. Who knows. Meanwhile, the Doves die. (GEAPRESS - Reproduction prohibited without citing the source).


http://littlebytesnews.amplify.com/2011/01/06/blue-tint-in-mouths-could-be-from-potassium-cyanidea-deadly-poison-usedto-kill-1000s-of-doves-in-italy-tcot/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, who's gassing the birds in Italy?  And why?

[carlee]

January 7, 2010

Cyber War - Dead Birds and Wheeler's Death

Whereas I applaud the research into Phospene and the underground volcanism theory, the trouble with those theories is that birds are falling from the sky in many places around the globe, not just in the US! This is a relatively simultaneous occurrence. This is why that answer is not sufficient.

There does seem to be a possible link up here:


"...The Mitre Corporation, whose aviation system development department, the GRU reports, is at the forefront of creating the computer command and control systems used by the US Air Force in their fleet of aerial spraying planes." --from RumorMill News article

The computer command and control system used by the Air Force in planes can be interpreted as possible use as trigger mechanisms for something much more far-reaching in application...If used worldwide... possibly triggered from planes or simply computers. In other words, a form of cyber war.

Wheeler's death may be related...

Apparently Wheeler sent longtime friend Richard Radez (see article) an email expressing concern that the US wasn't sufficiently prepared for cyber warfare, according to the linked article and The Associated Press...

As mentioned previously on this blog, there are supposedly ground radiation pools that have been there for sometime are being used as directed energy weapons (my terminology as I have no scientific or detailed labels to give this) and that this is a worldwide test 'they' are doing...

This is not the same as HAARP. Although it may be directed by HAARP... it is accessing local pools (for lack of a better word) of this underground radiation.

The important this to know here is that it is making use of a 'naturally occurring' substance to trigger something else.

What ultimately they will use this for I don't know. There is no obvious reason why this source would give me misdirection on this. Regardless of the cause, the intention is orchestrated.

It is worth noting that this information from my source will most likely not appear anywhere else. The truth when it comes to operations is often surrounded by disinfo and misleading seemingly likely scenarios that are then pushed as the answer in order to hide the real truth.

Additional note on Wheeler's death: we have information that there is a great deal of 're-shuffling' going on within our government... There may be a link up to this as we
http://projectcamelotproductions.com/blog-hp.html

[KiwiClare]

Updates From Mike Of Patriotspace on Bird Die Off - HAARP Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bks_LStwdu0

[lamourlady]

Quote
The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.  Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.

And that is what they have counted on all this time, but the internet has changed all of that.  Each individual community would think nothing of it with a simple explanation, locally...it IS when you put it all together with other data presented here in this thread and from around the world that we DO see the big picture....imo.

[KiwiClare]

[GH0STMASTER]

A few websites are linking this to weather.  it has been very cold this year.  Plus naturally you could link some of this to some jackass getting their kicks by poisoning birds, fish or both.    I have been on the Internet for a long time.  First time other than 2007 I have seen this in the news. So I don't see how they can say this has been on going for years.  Years ago on the Internet we did not have conspiracies as wide spread as we do today.  The news media would of reported it i believe without even blinking twice.  I say if anything, do some checking on weather conditions for each of the areas.   At least starting a week or two before, and during.  I wish i could do this myself, but I am fixing to take off.  

[citizenx]

Italy.  8000 doves.

Birds of peace.

Cyanide.

Gas of peace?

[Freeski]

Those are beautiful birds.

[Dig]

Italy.  8000 doves.

Birds of peace.

Cyanide.

Gas of peace?

holy shit batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you hit that one out of the f**king park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things to Come (1936) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028358/

On page 222 of Arthur C. Clarke's 1993 allegorical novel The Hammer of God, he says " I have a very high thershold for bad sf films. After persuading him to view one classic Things to Come, Stanley Kubrick complained: "What are you trying to do to me?"

These two collaborated on the film 2001: A Space Odessey which is an allegory for the religion of freemasonry.

An interesting film Things to come is based on the H.G. Wells novel which is about "the freemasons of the air" who fly in planes that spray knockout gas all over the earth to get everyone to submit to the New World Order.

Wells wrote a non fiction book in 1940 titled "The New World Order".

Clarke says he may have borrowed the title "Hammer of God" (masonic) from a similar book titled "Lucifer's Hammer". he gives a date Sept 11, 2077 for a disaster coming to earth.

Original Post: http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=161139.msg957341;topicseen#msg957341

Things to come
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1981575298541267699#

Chemtrails='GAS OF PEACE' from THINGS TO COME to exterminate billions of humans

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=102880.0

They justify Corexit via THE GAS OF PEACE argument from HG Wells Things to Come...

Chemtrails are THE GAS OF PEACE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over a ruinous landscape, brigands with flags and old
     military uniforms in flight as the new aeroplanes overhead
     bomb them. The bombs explode and gas overcomes the brigands.
        Sky writing by the new planes: SURRENDER.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    CABAL: "Have they weapons?"

        MITANI: "Bars of metal. They can smash electric cables.
     They can do no end of mischief."

        CABAL: "Are there no weapons on our side? Cannot your
     traffic control produce a police?"

        MITANI: "Very few.... We have nothing but the Gas of
     Peace. And it isn't ready. It will take hours yet. There are
     some young people we can gather. We must hold this crowd back
     --at any cost--for a time; until the Gas of Peace can be
     brought up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      CABAL: "Then you'll have to organise some sort of guard.
     Alter all you have your way-men and your inspection planes.
     That ought to be enough. And if there is much disturbance--
     isn't there still the Gas of Peace?"

        MITANI "There is none."

        CABAL: "Is there none?"

        MITANI: "Officially anyhow. There has been no need of it.
     The world has been orderly because it has been happy, and it
     has been happy because everyone has had something to do.
     There has been no reason to keep any of that gas. There has
     been no use for it for seventy years. But now I want to call
     up the Council and get a sanction to make it at once--and use
     it if need be."

        CABAL: "Call the Council, but won't that take too long?"

        MITANI: "Well, I have been anticipating a little. I have
     been having some made."

        CABAL: "That is right. We can endorse that."

        MITANI: "In a few hours some tons at any rate will be
     ready and our planes will be ready to distribute it. But
     still--it will take a little time. Some hours, perhaps."

        CABAL: "That old Gas of Peace. We shall hate to use it
     again. But if the people will not give us the freedom of
     outer space--we shall have to use it."

        MITANI: "I have your support then in what I am doing?"

        CABAL: "Fully. Yet all this is incredible to me.
     Insurrection! Against exploration! Mankind turning upon
     science and adventure. Wanting to call a halt. It's a mood,
     Mitani."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     A YOUNG MAN: "This gives us a chance of trying this new
     anaesthetic, the Gas of Peace... I wish I could go..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Things to Come - 1936 | 100 mins | Sci-Fi | B&W
http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/fiction/filmography/006.html
Plot Synopsis

The story H.G. Wells Things to Come centres on the careers of two men: John Cabal, leader of the, technocrats who set up the world state, and his grandson Oswald Cabal, who has to deal with a reactionary backlash. Not surprisingly, given that the film industry was an integral part of the capitalist system, the attack on capitalism that is central to The Shape of Things to Come is omitted. The film concentrates more on attacking the horrors of war, which in the book Wells made clear was a product of that system. But Wells' screenplay was further streamlined and pruned by Korda and his script editor Lajos Biro to eliminate a diatribe against religion and a debate about the role of woman as love object or workmate. But otherwise the scenario was faithfully translated to the screen by Korda's top-flight production team. He imported the ace Hollywood designer William Cameron Menzies to direct and commissioned Arthur Bliss to provide the score. The art director was Alexander Korda's brother Vincent, who was inspired in creating the city of the future.

The resulting film was released in February 1936. For all the obvious artificiality of some of the special effects, the cut-glass accents and impeccable upper-class English manner of the juveniles and the hamminess of some of the acting, it remains a classic of science fiction cinema, a visionary work of compelling power, awesome imagination and uplifting optimism. The first theme is pacifism and hatred of war. Prophetically choosing 1940 as its starting date and setting the action in Everytown, though it is obviously London and in particular Piccadilly Circus, the film opens with the bravura intercutting of carol singers, turkeys for sale and Christmas shoppers with looming headlines proclaiming the imminence of war. At the house of John Cabal (Raymond Massey), the prospects of war are debated and Cabal insists 'if we don't end war, war will end us'. The children play games with their toy armaments, until over the wireless it is announced that the fleet has been bombed without warning, the country is at war and enemy planes are heading for Everytown. There follows a superbly staged air raid, a graphic and chilling illustration of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's dictum: 'The bomber will always get through.' Motorcyclists surge across the screen, the roar of planes is heard overhead and although we never see the planes, their bombs bring destruction to the busy streets as searchlights vainly probe the sky. The panic and devastation ends with a slow and eloquent track in to the body of a child buried in the rubble. The child, symbol of hope for the future, is to be a recurrent image in the film.

The war drags on until 1966 and in its wake comes the plague - the Wandering Sickness - and the collapse of civilisation. Victims of the plague are shot to prevent them spreading infection and the pestilence subsides. Amid the ruins of Everytown, a quasi-medieval village springs up, with buses turned into houses, cars pulled by horses and the community led by a warlord, the As (Ralph Richardson), who still leads armed raids on neighbouring settlements. The Boss is challenged by the arrival of the white-haired, black-clad figure of John Cabal, who declares that he represents an organisation called 'Wings Over the World' which stand for 'Law and Sanity' and plans to restore civilisation from its advanced scientific base on the Persian Gulf. Although the Boss arrests Cabal, a great fleet of airships appears over Everytown, drops 'Peace Gas' bombs, knocking out the population and taking control. Everyone revives in time except for the Boss, who is found to have died.

Cabal declares that the work of rebuilding must go ahead with the creation of a new planned, technological society. So the second theme of the film scientific planning - emerges. 'Planning' was the great panacea of the 1930s. It was based on faith in the efficacy of reason and science to tackle and overcome whatever problems faced the nation. The lengthy quasi-documentary sequence detailing the building of the New World is a celebration of technology. At the end of it, we see Everytown in 2036, a great new underground city of shining towers, white, clean, clinical, with artificial light and air, huge television screens and scientifically prolonged life. A child, being given a history lesson by her grandfather, declares happily: ‘keep on inventing things and making life lovelier and lovelier.' The latest invention is the space gun, which will launch a projectile to begin the exploration of the universe. Oswald Cabal (Raymond Massey), John's grandson, and Raymond Passworthy (Edward Chapman) discuss the expedition, on which Passworthy's son and Cabal's daughter will be the crew. Passworthy is fearful, and the people share his fears. The symbol of reaction is Theotocopoulos (Cedric Hardwicke), sculptor, artist and individualist. He hates the cold, planned, technological perfection in which they live. He rouses the populace to destroy the space gun, but before they can reach it, it is launched. Passworthy asks if there is ever to be any rest.


On google video .
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=hg+wells+things+to+come

You all better show this movie to everyone that you know...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1981575298541267699

[Dig]

The Real Money Is In the Dispersants-Buffett connection!
http://blog.nola.com/oilspill/2010/07/the_real_money_is_in_the_dispe.html
Published: Saturday, July 03, 2010, 3:30 PM

I live in New Orleans and have heard that some well placed people own stock in Nalco the company that is selling BP dispersants. I searched the Internet for some information about this and have found the following:

The Top Kill method was started and suspended several times. It was being attempted only half hearted.

Stopping the flow would stop the use of dispersants that NALCO is supplying.

Warren Buffett, Maurice Strong, Al Gore, George Soris, Apollo Management, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and others own stock in NALCO.

NALCO is Chicago based with subsidiaries in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia.

NALCO is associated with The University of Chicago Argonne program. UChicago Argonne received $164M in stimulus funds the past year. UChicago added two new executives to their roster, one from NALCO the other from the Illinois Dept. of Education.

Warren Buffet increased his holdings in NALCO last November.

Some reference links:

Buffett’s Bet On Water, NALCO.
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3095068

Blackstone, Apollo and Goldman Sachs to acquire Ondeo NALCO from Suez
http://www.allbusiness.com/business-finance/equity-funding-stock/683074-1.html

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. - NALCO Holding Co.
http://idc.api.edgar-online.com/efx_dll/edgarpro.dll?FetchFilingConvPDF1?SessionID=OZpWWtNVbAyZOIS&ID=6634588

BP Embraces Exxon’s toxic dispersant, Ignores safter Alternative
http://www.protecttheocean.com/gulf-oil-spill-bp/

[Dig]

Toxicologists: Corexit “Ruptures Red Blood Cells, Causes Internal Bleeding”, "Allows Crude Oil To Penetrate “Into The Cells” and “Every Organ System"
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/211831-Corexit-Ruptures-Red-Blood-Cells-Causes-Internal-Bleeding-Allows-Crude-Oil-to-Penetrate-Into-the-Cells-and-Every-Organ-System-
Submitted by George Washington on 07/09/2010 18:35 -0500

As I have previously noted, Corexit is toxic, is less effective than other dispersants, and is actually worsening the damage caused by the oil spill. Now, two toxicologists are saying that Corexit is much more harmful to human health and marine life than we've been told. Specifically Gulf toxicologist Dr. Susan Shaw - Founder and Director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute - dove into the oil spill to examine the chemicals present.

Dr. Shaw told CNN:


If I can tell you what happens — because I was in the oil — to people…
 
Shrimpers throwing their nets into water… [then] water from the nets splashed on his skin. …
 
[He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks… heart palpitations… muscle spasms… bleeding from the rectum…
 
And that’s what that Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. …
 
This stuff is so toxic combined… not the oil or dispersants alone. …
 
Very, very toxic and goes right through skin.


The reason this is so toxic is because of these solvents [from dispersant] that penetrate the skin of anything that’s going through the dispersed oil takes the oil into the cells — takes the oil into the organs… and this stuff is toxic to every organ system in the body.

He also explains that EPA toxicity testing for Corexit is woefully inadequate, since EPA testing for mortality usually only requires a 96-hour time frame. His doctoral research found that fish that were alive at 96 hours after exposure to pesticide were dead at two weeks, so the chemicals were considered non-lethal for the purposes of the test.

[Dig]

Very, very toxic and goes right through skin.
The reason this is so toxic is because of these solvents [from dispersant] that penetrate the skin of anything that’s going through the dispersed oil takes the oil into the cells — takes the oil into the organs… and this stuff is toxic to every organ system in the body.

Toxins are killing the entire Gulf, this is the agenda. It is not the oil. This is 100% genocide by Bilderberg psychos, Battelle, Evergreen, etc. WTF?

They are finding brain lesions in the fish!

Brain legions!

Oil does not cause that!


“Unprecedented” fish kill in Jacksonville for past two weeks “isn’t related to annual cycle”; “Lesions in the brain… points to toxicity” (PHOTOS)
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/unprecedented-fish-kill-in-jacksonville-for-past-two-weeks-isnt-related-to-annual-cycle-lesions-in-the-brain-points-to-toxicity-photos
By oilflorida, on June 27th, 2010

Fish kill in St. Johns isn’t related to annual cycle

There’s no easy solution for the puzzling fish kill in St. Johns, Jacksonville Times-Union, June 26, 2010:

CAPTION: Dead red fish litter the bank of the St. Johns River north of the Buckman Bridge [in Jacksonville] Monday, June 7, 2010. A multitude of dead red fish have been reported for the past two weeks with the cause being unknow [sic] at present.

Jacksonville Times-Union

If you think the… fish kill on the St. Johns River is an annual event that just came early this year — think again. That’s the message that two men with close ties to the river want you to know. … “This kill is unprecedented,” he said. He explained that fish kills due to low oxygen levels are typically confined to smaller areas, not as widespread as the problem has become. …

Fish continue to die in an area from roughly the Buckman Bridge [in Jacksonville] south to Lake George…

[Quinton White, the executive director of the marine science institute at Jacksonville University] said that last week the St. Pete lab sent staff to Jacksonville University to sample more recently killed fish. “They did necropsies on site,” he said.

He said they found lesions in the brains of some redfish. “I’m not sure what else,” White said.

Jacksonville Times-Union

That, White says, points to toxicity. …

White said that he’s received reports from the area of the Rudder Club — adjacent to the Buckman Bridge — of water birds that mainly eat small fish regurgitating stomach contents. …

Regardless of the results of the tissue sampling, White said that the prognosis isn’t something the public is going to want to hear.

“There will be no quick or easy solution” to whatever is happening. Identifying the problem isn’t likely to make it go away.

Why Jacksonville? See: Palm Beach Post: Oil slick almost certain to ride current

In one experiment, a buoy dropped in the Gulf made its way via the Loop [Current]… recalled George Maul, the head of the Department of Marine Environmental Systems at the Florida Institute of Technology… [The buoy] shot straight to Jacksonville.

See also: USF Dean says oil “within a few miles of the Jacksonville” coast

“Some of the tar balls may start showing up on the east coast as far as Jacksonville,” Bill Hogarth, dean of the College of Marine Science at USF, told members of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association in a telephone conference call.

And: Baby Whale Beaches Self (near Jacksonville)

“Infections and toxins are going to be the big killers of these animals,” [Dr. Michael] Walsh said.

[citizenx]

COREXIT, aluminum, barium, phosgene, cyanide...

it's all good to these creeps.

But, yeah, maybe.

Gs of peace.

[Dig]

Evergreen/CIA Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damage

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail?blogid=150&entry_id=65552

UPDATED: June 27, 2010 - Last May 24, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised, "We will conduct our own tests to determine the least toxic, most effective dispersant available in the volumes necessary for a crisis of this magnitude... I am not satisfied that BP has done an extensive enough analysis of other dispersant options."

As of today, those tests have not been completed, according to the EPA. In the meantime, BP has dumped 1.4 million gallons of Corexit on the gulf. Next week, we could have a hurricane pushing Corexit inland.

Promises... promises...

---ORIGINAL POST: June 10, 2010------------

Just when you thought the damages BP could cause was limited to beaches, marshes, oceans, people's livelihoods, birds and marine life, there's more.

BP's favorite dispersant Corexit 9500 is being sprayed at the oil gusher on the ocean floor. Corexit is also being air sprayed across hundreds of miles of oil slicks all across the gulf. There have been widespread reports of oil cleanup crews reporting various injuries including respiratory distress, dizziness and headaches.

Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by the Nalco of Naperville, Illinois (who by the way just hired some expensive lobbyists). Corexit is is four times more toxic than oil (oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm).

In a report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. titled "Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview" Corexit 9500 was found to be one of the most toxic dispersal agents ever developed.

COREXIT, SALT WATER AND OIL DO NOT MIX WELL TOGETHER

According to the Clark and George-Ares report, Corexit mixed with the higher gulf coast water temperatures becomes even more toxic.

The UK's Marine Management Organization has banned Corexit so if there was a spill in the UK's North Sea, BP is banned from using Corexit. In fact Corexit products currently being used in the Gulf were removed from a list of approved treatments for oil spills in the U.K. more than a decade ago. The Environmental Advisory Service for Oil and Chemical Spills at IVL, Swedish Environmental Institute, has, upon request of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency evaluated Corexit extensively and recommended it not be used in Swedish waters.

The Swedish study concludes: "The studies suggest that a mixture of oil and dispersant give rise to a more toxic effect on aquatic organisms than oil and dispersants do alone... The research on toxicity of oils mixed with dispersants has, however, shown high toxicity values even when the dispersant per se was not very toxic." A report for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Spill Prevention and Response concluded that Corexit actually inhibits bacterial degradation of crude oil. It may look good on the surface but it will take longer for natural bacteria to eat up the crude oil.

Many of the region's important organisms, such as blue fin tuna and shrimp, use the wetlands at some point in their lifetime. Adult tuna breed during the late spring and early summer. Their eggs then float to shore and the larvae grow in the wetlands, protected from predators. Any decent chemist will tell you that surfactants, which are the primary ingredient in Corexit destroy cell membranes --- including larval membranes of larval tuna eggs, shrimp and any other marine life trying to develop.

BP with the EPA's approval continues to pour Corexit into the gulf with no science to estimate the harm the gusher's load of dispersed oil will cause the water column, because they lack sufficient and fundamental data on how dispersants affect the oil, what creatures live in deepwater ecosystems, how laboratory flask toxicity tests translate to actual conditions in the ocean, and how oil and Corexit affects organisms over time.

The real problem is not the dispersants themselves but what the chemicals do to the oil. By itself, oil is more toxic than dispersants alone, but together oil and Corexit is far more toxic. I can only assume the EPA approved Corexit because they thought diluting the dispersed oil and Corexit will mitigate its increased toxicity.

EPA's crap shoot is that more toxic but significantly diluted dispersed oil/Corexit crap floating is better than concentrated oil slicks washing ashore. From my point of view, it's a lazy, easy and irresponsible approach. Note Sweden does not even allow dispersants. In case of a spill in Swedish waters, only mechanical extraction and vacuum is allowed.

Lab toxicology tests (flask tests) that are the whole foundation of Corexit's approval neglect one variable that organisms encounter out on the ocean's surface - sunlight. Transparent organisms such as planktons and crustaceans called copepods react to ultraviolet light from the sun. The reaction promotes photochemical degradation of aromatic compounds from oil that the creatures have absorbed or swallowed. The degradation results in oxidized molecules that are more toxic than the original oil compounds.

In tests to observe this photo-enhanced toxicity, aquatic toxicologist Carys L. Mitchelmore of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science said researchers have found that the toxicity under natural light can be up to 50,000 times greater than the toxicity seen in a lab. Neglecting real-world conditions, laboratory experiments could underestimate dispersed oil's toxicity.

ARE U.S. WATERS MORE EXPENDABLE THAN SWEDEN OR THE UK'S WATERS?



The simple question I ask is: If the UK bans Corexit and Sweden recommends against it, why the hell are we using it on American waters?

The danger to humans can be expected. The warnings on the Corexit packaging is straightforward. In the tech world, you'll hear the acronym RTFM- Read the Friggin' Manual!!! Breathing in Corexit is not recommended. It's not good for your lungs, eyes, skin or even your clothes! If you're really geeky like me, you can read that Corexit is not good for marine life either.


It seems NALCO Corexit is also dangerous to crops.



VIDEO: AIR FORCE DELIVERING WIDE SPREAD AERIAL SPRAYING OF COREXIT
 

It seems like damage brought by the oil gusher has spread way beyond the ocean, coastal areas and beaches. Collateral damage now appears to include agricultural damage way inland Mississippi.

A mysterious "disease" has caused widespread damage to plants from weeds to farmed organic and conventionally grown crops. There is very strong suspicion that ocean winds have blown Corexit aerosol plumes or droplets and that dispersants have caused the unexplained widespread damage or "disease".

PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO: WIDESPREAD MYSTERIOUS CROP DAMAGE IN GULF AREA
 

There is no other explanation for the crop damage. It's conjecture on my part but everything points to something that has a widespread effect on plants and crops. Studies on Corexit and its effects on plants are consistent with the damage sustained in the lower Mississippi area. Check out the table on page 877 of the study. While no one precisely knows, all the signs point to BP's use of aerosolized Corexit brought inland by the ocean winds or rain.

Remember acid rain? Now it seems we could have toxic dispersant rain.

[Dig]

What is Corexit?
http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/why-is-bp-using-highly-toxic-corexit-oil-dispersant/

Corexit is a line of oil dispersants or solvents, originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by Nalco Holding Company (NHC) of Naperville, IL. Interestingly, NHC is associated with Exxon and British Petroleum (BP) — the latter is the same company that insists on using Corexit.  

An oil dispersant is basically a detergent, like your dishwashing detergent. It disperses or breaks up the oil film into small droplets that intermix with seawater.

There are at least four different formulations of Corexit:
[/color]
* Corexit EC 7664A
* Corexit EC 9500A (aka Corexit 9500)
* Corexit 9527A
* Corexit EC 9580A

Corexit EC9500A is mainly comprised of hydrotreated light petroleum distillates, propylene glycol and a proprietary organic sulfonic acid salt. Propylene glycol is a chemical commonly used as a solvent or moisturizer in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. An organic sulfonic acid salt is a synthetic chemical detergent, such as that used in laundry detergents, which acts as a surfactant to emulsify oil and allow its dispersion into water.

A variant of Corexit was used in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. In the present Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP is using unprecedentedly large quantities of Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A, applying 800,000 gallons total, but more accurate estimates run as high as 1,000,000 gallons underwater.

Is Corexit Effective?

Corexit 9500 was 54.7% effective and Corexit EC9527A was 63.4% effective in handling Louisiana crude oil. Corexit is not a very efficient oil dispersant; there are others that are better. (More below)
Is Corexit Safe to Use?

The short answer is “No!” Corexit is highly toxic to humans as well as marine life.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified the 2-butoxyethanol in Corexit to be a causal agent in the health problems experienced by cleanup workers after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill of respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders. Read about Corexit from the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/ncp/products/corex950.htm

According to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), Corexit 9500‘s “potential human bazard is: High.” It can cause central nervous system depression; nausea; unconsciousness;  liver, kidney damage; and red blood cell hemolysis with repeated or prolonged exposure through inhalation or ingestion.

Here is what the MSDS for Corexit EC9500A says about Accidental Release Measures:

PERSONAL PRECAUTIONS :
Restrict access to area as appropriate until clean-up operations are complete. Ensure clean-up is conducted by trained personnel only. Ventilate spill area if possible. Do not touch spilled material. Remove sources of ignition.

Stop or reduce any leaks if it is safe to do so. Have emergency equipment (for fires, spills, leaks, etc.) readily available. Use personal protective equipment recommended in Section 8 (Exposure Controls/Personal Protection). Notify appropriate government, occupational health and safety and environmental authorities.

RESPIRATORY PROTECTION :
If significant mists, vapors or aerosols are generated an approved respirator is recommended. An organic vapor cartridge with dust/mist prefilter or supplied air may be used. In event of emergency or planned entry into unknown concentrations a positive pressure, full-facepiece SCBA should be used. If respiratory protection is required, institute a complete respiratory protection program including selection, fit testing, training, maintenance and inspection.

HAND PROTECTION :
Nitrile gloves, Viton# gloves, Polyvinyl alcohol gloves

SKIN PROTECTION :
Wear impervious apron and boots.

EYE PROTECTION :
Wear chemical splash goggles.

HYGIENE RECOMMENDATIONS :
Keep an eye wash fountain available. Keep a safety shower available. If clothing is contaminated, remove clothing and thoroughly wash the affected area. Launder contaminated clothing before reuse.

On May 19, 2010 the EPA gave BP 24 hours to choose less toxic alternatives to Corexit, selected from the list of EPA-approved dispersants on the National Contingency Plan Product Schedule. BP was to begin applying the less toxic dispersants within 72 hours of EPA approval of their choices, but BP refused to change from Corexit, citing safety and availability concerns with alternatives.

According to the EPA, Corexit is more toxic than dispersants made by several competitors and less effective in handling southern Louisiana crude. Not only is Corexit toxic to human and marine life, it helps keep spilled oil submerged. The quantities used in the Gulf will create unprecedented underwater damage to organisms.

There are claims that Corexit is one of the most poisonous dispersants ever developed, that it is 4 times more toxic than crude oil, and 20 times more toxic than other dispersants, but only half as effective.

Is there a better alternative than Corexit?

There is an oil dispersant called Dispersit, manufactured by Polychem, a division of U.S. Polychemical Corporation. Dispersit is a much less harmful water-based product, with about one third of the toxicity that Corexit 9500 presents. Corexit 9500 is a harsh petroleum-based solvent which is dangerous to people and sea life. Dispersit’s human health effect is “slight to none.” Dispersit is also on the EPA’s approved list of dispersants.

Dispersit is also more effective than Corexit. Dispersit has a demonstrated effectiveness of 100% on the lighter South Louisiana crude, and 40% on Pruhoe Bay’s heavier crude. Exxon’s Corexit 9500 is just 55% effective on SL and 55% effective on PB. On an average, Dispersit is 70% effective, and may prove 100% effective, while Corexit 9500 is an average of 50% effective, with a maximum effective use of just 55%.

Bruce Gebhardt at Polychem Marine Products was asked if Dispersit was being used in the Gulf Oil Spill situation. “Very little,” he replied.  When asked why, the impression was that the government had used Corexit 9500 in the past, and was going with what they know — no matter how dangerous that might prove to be.

Why does BP insist on using the highly toxic, less effective Corexit?

Why is Corexit 9500 is being used at all, when the water-based Dispersit is available, markedly more effective and less toxic? Follow the money.

Recall that earlier I had said that Corexit is manufactured by Nalco Holding Company (NHC), which is associated with BP. Rodney F. Chase, who sits on the board of Nalco, was also a BP board member.

The likelihood that he still holds shares in both companies is very high.

In fact, it was reported on May 3, 2010, that BP has acquired Nalco Holding’s entire inventory of its Corexit oil dispersant!

Not surprisingly, NHC’s stock took a sharp jump, up more than 18% at its highest point of the day when it was announced that their product is the one BP will use in the Gulf.

NALCO Holding [Source]

But wait! It gets even better!

* Peter Sutherland, the Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, was also, until last year, the Chairman of BP! The same Goldman Sachs that sold $250 million of its BP stock right before the oil rig explosion/spill.
BP and its folks were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Obama’s 2007-08 campaign. In fact, Obama is the single largest individual recipient of BP PAC (Political Action Committee) contributions.

* Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s White House Chief-of-Staff, has lived in a rent-free apartment in D.C. for the past 5 years. The apartment is owned by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) and her husband, Stanley Greenberg. Greenberg’s consulting firm was a prime architect of BP’s recent rebranding drive as a “green” petroleum company!

* In May 2009, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway was the second-largest shareholder in Nalco, the producer of Corexit, with a little more than 6% of the shares.

Conclusion

There are experts who think that oil dispersants of whatever variety shouldn’t even be used in the Gulf.

Dispersing the oil neither eliminates it nor decreases its toxicity. All dispersants do is to break the oil into small particles, where it becomes less visible. But the oil’s still there, spewing toxicity at an even greater rate (due to higher surface area), except now it’s pretty much impossible to skim or trap or vacuum or even soak up the oil particles at the shoreline because most of it will never make it to the shoreline.  Instead, the toxic crude oil AND the dispersant will be spread all over the ocean’s waters.

In effect, to “disperse” the oil means it will NEVER be cleaned up. It will just stay out there, polluting and poisoning the ocean and marine life, including the fish, shrimp, mollusk that we humans consume as food.

And if using oil dispersants is unwise, it is approaching madness to use a dispersant as toxic as Corexit. Add to the insane formula the fact the Corexit isn’t even a very effective dispersant, and we’re looking at avarice and mendacity on the part of BP at the level of true EVIL.

As for the Obama administration, any government that tolerates such evil is, minimally, incompetent and, maximally, complicit in evil.

More alarming still is the opinion in some quarters that when the toxic Corexit 9500 is combined with the warm waters of the Gulf, much of it will transition into a gaseous state that will be absorbed into clouds, to be released as toxic rain upon all of the Eastern United States.

[Dig]

The Amount Of Neurotoxin Pesticide Corexit
Sprayed By BP Tops 1 Million Gallons
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/06/05/amount-neurotoxin-pesticide-corexit-sprayed-bp-tops-1-million-gallons/
Posted by Alexander Higgins - June 5, 2010 at 6:56 am - Permalink

BP’s latest oil spill response update for June 4th says the total amount of the dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico more than 1,021,000 gallons.

But what most people don’t know is that the active ingredient of the toxic chemical dispersant, which is up to 60% by volume, being sprayed by BP to fight the Gulf oil spill  is a  neurotoxin pesticide that is acutely toxic to both human and aquatic life, causes cancer, causes damage to internal organs such as the liver and kidneys simply by absorbing it through the skin and may cause reproductive side effects.

In fact the neurotoxin pesticide that is lethal to 50% of life in concentrations as little as 2.6 parts per million has been banned for use in the UK since 1998 because it failed the UK  “Rocky shore  test” which assures that the dispersant does not cause a “significant deleterious ecological change” – or to put that in layman’s terms it can kill off the entire food chain.

Corexit has also earned the highest EPA warning label for toxicity which means the effects of the toxic chemicals to the eye are corrosive resulting in irreversible destruction of ocular tissue and other tissue with corneal involvement along with an burning that can  persist for more than 21 days and effects to human  skin are corrosive resulting in tissue destruction into the dermis and/or scarring.

Corexit was widely used after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and according to a literature review performed by the group the Alaska Community Action on Toxics  was later linked with widespread long lasting health impacts in people including respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders.

The “Human Health Hazards” are said to be “Chronic” for Corexit  EC9527A according to the EPA.

So What Are These Dispersants Made Of That Makes Them Such a Powerful Neurotoxin Pesticide?

The main ingredients of Corexit is 2-Butoxyethanol which can make up to 60% of the dispersant and is known to be toxic to blood, kidneys, liver, and the central nervous system (CNS).

2-Butoxyethanol is also known to cause cancer, birth defects and has been found to cause genetic mutations and is a delayed chronic health hazard as well as an environmental hazardous material

Corexit also contains Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury, and Cyanide.

How effective is Corexit in dispersing Gulf crude?

Corexit 9500 is only 54.7% effective and Corexit 9527A is 63.4% effective in dispersing the crude oil found off the shores of South Louisiana.

BP has sprayed both Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 into the Gulf of Mexico to disperse the oil both of which have been banned in the UK since 1998 for failure to pass the Rocky Shores Test.

By BP’s own admission Corexit has the potential for bioaccumulation meaning it has the potential to accumulate in the tissues of organism beginning with the first organism in a food chain.

Why allow the use of these toxic dispersants?

Well the EPA has ordered BP to stop using the dispersants but BP has refused

Instead BP replied with its justification for using Corexit which the EPA responded to saying BP’s response “lacked sufficient analysis and focused more defending your initial decision” .

In general, the EPA justifies the use of dispersants because they are less toxic than oil and the cause less of an environment impact that oil along the coastline calling dispersants an environmental trade off which is the lesser of two evils.

However the choice of using Corexit contradicts both of those justifications.

Corexit is lethal in as little as 2.6 parts per million where oil is lethal in 11 parts per million meaning that Corexit is over 4 times more toxic than oil.

Furthermore scientific studies show that oil dispersed with Corexit is 11 times more lethal than oil alone.

In fact the study referenced showed that crude oil was lethal at 4250 parts per million to killifish but combination of oil mixed with Corexit was lethal in as little as 317.7 ppm.

“Dispersed oils were more toxic than crude oils,” noted the report.

The other justification of lessening the environmental impact along the shoreline doesn’t hold up either as the reason Corexit was banned in the UK is because it was in fact shown to have a “significant deleterious ecological change” on the shoreline.

The fact Corexit is 4 times as toxic as oil and up to 11 times as toxic when combined with oil it literally makes no sense to allow the use of such a toxic chemical that can “delete” the ecological systems along the Gulf coast.

A report in the journal Environmental Toxicology a decade ago concluded that lethality levels in “dispersed oil combinations were significantly more toxic to these organisms than .. crude oil.” Another study, this time of snails and amphipods reached exactly the same conclusion.

What are the long term effects of Corexit?

The EPA has stated over and over that the long term effects of the use of Corexit are unknown yet there is plenty of data documenting the long term effects on humans (see below).

Further making the EPA claims questionable is EPA’s Deepwater horizon response sites site clearly states that between 1 million and 2.5 million gallons of the neurotoxin pesticide Corexit was used in the 1979 toxic oil spill which makes it unfathomable that the EPA doesn’t know what the long term effects are of a chemical that has been widely used, and eventually banned in certain countries, over a period of 30 years.

To the contrary of the EPA’s statement scientific studies widely state Corexit 9527 has been tested extensively in the laboratory and used on oil spills since 1978 and a considerable number of toxicity reports exist concerning a wide variety of species.

So why does the Federal Government continue to tell us the the long term effects of the dispersant usage are unknown?

Why does the Federal Government continue to pretend like they know so little about the dispersant BP is being used?

What are the chemical components of the dispersants COREXIT 9500 and COREXIT 9527?

While the main ingredient which makes up to 60% of Corexit is reason enough to cause concern.

If you dig any more dirt on these let me know.

The components of COREXIT 9500 and 9527 are:CAS Registry Number   Chemical Name



What are the Chronic Health effects of Corexit?

Here are some of the highlights from the MSDS for the active ingredient (2-butoxyethanol) – of Corexit (up to 60% by volume)



What does the EPA say about the human health effects expected as a result of using the dispersants?

The EPA warning about human health affects says

People working with dispersants are strongly advised to use a half face filter mask or an air-supplied breathing apparatus to protect their noses, throats, and lungs, and they should wear nitrile or PVC gloves, coveralls, boots, and chemical splash goggles to keep dispersants off skin and out of their eyes. CDC provides more information on reducing occupational exposures while working with dispersants during the Gulf Oil Spill Response.
Material Data Safety Sheet for Corexit 9500A (PDF) (11pp., 88 K, About PDF)
Material Data Safety Sheet for Corexit 9527A (PDF) (11 pp., 132 K, About PDF)

Hasn’t BP switched over to a new less toxic version of Corexit

BP does claim that since it now using the more environmentally friendly version of Corexit it can not be verified whether or not the newer version contains 2-butoxyethanol or not.

BP and the manufacturer to date have refused to release a list of all of the chemicals contained in Corexit 9500 claiming that the ingredients are proprietary.

It is quite possible that 2-butoxyethanol or an even more hazardous substance is contained in Corexit 9500.

Corexit 9500, like Corexit 9527, also contains Propylene Glycol a substance generally recognized as safe for human consumption.

However, Propylene Glycol depletes oxygen from water 5 times greater than raw sewage and the massive amounts used in the BP Gulf oil spill could help contribute to dead zones in the Gulf where aquatic life can not survive.

What about the effects of Corexit on the oil spill clean up workers

During the Exxon Valdez another version of Corexit was used to clean up the oil.

CNN reports that the average life expectancy of workers who cleaned up the Exxon Valdez is 51 years old and most of those workers are now dead.

Watch this CNN video on how the dispersants are affecting the cleanup workers which claims that BP is putting its public image over the safety of those cleaning up the oil spill.


VIDEO at source link

================================================
References:
Deepwater Horizon Response Current Operations page
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/53339/
COREXIT 9527A Manufacturer MSDS retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/Corexit_EC9527A_MSDS.539295.pdf
COREXIT 9500 Manufacturer MSDS retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/Corexit_EC9500A_MSDS.539287.pdf
COREXIT 9500 EPA MSDS Product Data
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/ncp/products/corex950.htm
COREXIT 9527A EPA MSDS Product Data
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/ncp/products/corex952.htm
UK Dispersant Testing Guidelines
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.cefas.co.uk/publications/techrep/tech102.pdf
Act For Climate Justice*
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/2010/05/exclusive-no-toxicity-tests-on-bp%E2%80%99s-dispersant/
*Information from this source verified using other resources above.
The BP Spill, litigation, and health dangers from Pesticides
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.archive.org/details/TheBpSpillLitigationAndHealthDangersFromPesticides – Audio file of the radio broadcast 27 MB MP3
Pesticide Database Listing for Corexit – retrieved 01/05/2010 from http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Product.jsp?REG_NR=00892800006&DIST_NR=008928
Pesticide Listing For 2-Butoxyethanol (Corexit Main Ingredient) retrieved 06/07/2010 from http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35051
Additional Pesticide Listing Showing the uses for 2-Butoxyethanol (Corexit Main Ingredient) are as Fungicide, Microbiocide, Solvent, Adjuvant retrieved 06/07/2010 from http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35051
Neurotoxin Listing For 2-Butoxyethanol (Corexit Main Ingredient) from NeuroResearch Clinics, Inc a research project published by the Minnesota School of Medicine retrieved 06/07/2010 from http://www.neuroassist.com/Neurotoxins.htm
EPA Toxicity Warning Labels
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Docs/ref_products.html#EPAWarning
The Watering Hole
Resource used to find list of more information about Corexit
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/the-watering-hole-may-7-and-now-the-chemical-spill/
The Science Blogs
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://scienceblogs.com/speakeasyscience/2010/05/a_lethal_concentration.php
COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF TWO OIL DISPERSANTS, SUPERDISPERSANT-25
AND COREXIT 9527, TO A RANGE OF COASTAL SPECIES
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://publicfiles.dep.state.fl.us/DEAR/Oil%20Spill/Bioremediation%20and%20Dispersant%20Literature/Toxicity%20of%20Superdispersant-25%20and%20Corexit%209527.pdf
2-butoxyethanol Material Safety Data Sheet
retrieved 05/06/2010 from http://www.sciencelab.com/xMSDS-2_Butoxyethanol-9923187
Stone Prep MSDS
Contains additional state safety data on 2-butoxyethanol
retrieved 05/06/2010 from http://www.thisoldgrout.com/msds/stoneprep.pdf
TOXICITY OF SOUTH LOUISIANA CRUDE OIL, ALASKAN NORTH SLOPE CRUDE OIL AND DISPERSANT COREXIT 9500 TO GULF KILLIFISH, WHITE SHRIMP, AND EASTERN OYSTER
retrieved 06/05/2010 from http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-1113103-122552/unrestricted/Liu_thesis.pdf
Monitoring biodegradation of creosote in soils using radiolabels, toxicity tests, and chemical analysis
retrieved on 06/05/2010 from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/71006506/abstract
Oil and dispersed oil toxicity to amphipods and snails
retrieved on 06/05/2010 from http://bit.ly/aTruF6
BP response to EPA on why it will continue to use Corexit retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/5-21bp-response.pdf
Dispersants Approved in UK and Reason Corexit Was Removed from List in 1998 retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/protecting/pollution/documents/approval_approved_products.pdf
Washington Post Reports BP Using both Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=382521
BP’s Response To The EPA Directive To Stop Using Corexit retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/5-21bp-response.pdf
EPA Response To BP’s refusal to stop using Corext retrieved 07/08/2010 from http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/Rainey-letter-052610.pdf

You can find more information on the toxicity of Corexit here, here and here.

[Freeski]

Dig building the library. Thanks man!

[jshowell]

http://www.infowars.com/is-toxic-corexit-rain-killing-crops-in-mississippi/

Is Toxic Corexit Rain Killing Crops in Mississippi?
        

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
June 25, 2010

Yobie Benjamin, writing for The San Francisco Chronicle, is reporting what nobody else in the corporate media is reporting — a mysterious disease has stricken crops in Mississippi and it may be connected to the BP oil gusher.



“It seems like damage brought by the oil gusher has spread way beyond the ocean, coastal areas and beaches. Collateral damage now appears to include agricultural damage way inland Mississippi,” writes Benjamin. The disease has caused widespread damage to plants from weeds to farmed organic and conventionally grown crops.

Benjamin believes the disease is the result of BP spraying the oil dispersant Corexit 9500 in the Gulf of Mexico. Corexit 9500 is believed to be responsible for widespread reports of oil cleanup crews reporting various injuries including respiratory distress, dizziness and headaches.

“Dispersants have never been applied on this scale, leaving environmental scientists guessing about the consequences. Corexit may have caused seven cleanup workers to be admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath and nausea,” reports Popular Science.

************************

If it's COREXIT Lindsey Williams and Southpark will have been right.  

[carlee]

More than 80 pigeons have keeled over and died at a farm near Quebec City for unknown reasons, the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths around the world. Environmental officials in the province say there’s no connection to a similar case in Arkansas, but Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures. The first dead bird was found on Dec. 18. He’s since found more bodies on his roof and inside the barn. “I was stunned,” he said. “I went to see my tenant to ask whether he’d been feeding them poison. He ended helping me pick up 25 corpses. In the time it took us to collect them, five more had fallen. Authorities thought it might be gas. But that’s not possible.” A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said tests are currently being performed at the animal pathology lab in the provincial capital. “The cause right now isn’t known,” said Nicolas Begin. “It’s not related to what happened in the U.S. (But) we don’t see this sort of thing every day and we’re treating this as a serious matter.” About 5,000 birds fell from the sky in Arkansas over the New Year’s weekend. That incident is part of a string of fish and animal deaths seen in the U.S. and Europe, including a case in Maryland where two million fish washed up on the shores of Chesapeake Bay earlier this month, blamed on a rapid drop in temperature. In Quebec, firefighters and police visited Turmel’s property to check for fumes or criminal activity. Wildlife officials assured him the birds weren’t killed by the avian flu or the West Nile virus, but he’s been wary about touching them without gloves. He said wildlife officials took seven of the dead birds for analysis and told him not to speak with the media. Still, the feisty landowner called a local radio station to recount the incident. There’s something going on,” he said. “This is not normal.”         http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?glide=BH-20110107-29107-USA

[carlee]

Louisiana's state wildlife veterinarian says at least some of an estimated 450 birds that died near Baton Rouge may have flown into a power line. Jim LaCour said Tuesday [4 Jan 2011] the grackles, starlings, brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds had broken beaks and backs. He says some live birds had broken wings but ran too fast to catch. The bird deaths Monday came a few days after about 3000 blackbirds fell from the sky in central Arkansas. Scientists there say celebratory fireworks on New Year's Eve likely sent the birds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths. Officials say such massive wildlife kills are not uncommon. 
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?glide=BH-20110107-29106-USA

[birther truther tenther]

[citizenx]

Phosgene (CG) deaths of bids, fish and people per Colleen Thomas (Arkansas die-off)

video:
 
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1314760/pg1

Many different agents (gases) being used around the world by shadow gov't of the US per Thomas.

Recommend everyone watch this video.

[citizenx]

Vials of Dangerous Chemicals From Iraq Found at United Nations Offices in NYC
Thursday, August 30, 2007  

excerpts:

Vials of dangerous chemicals found by weapons inspectors in Iraq more than a decade ago were discovered Thursday in a United Nations office building near the world body's headquarters in the heart of New York City...


...The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a hastily gathered news conference...


..."An initial investigation has revealed that these items were recovered from a former Iraqi chemical weapons facility, al Muthamma, by UNSCOM inspectors in 1996.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295238,00.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Saddam's WMD's confiscated in Iraq War 1.  Brought to the US.  Fact.  Only question is how much and where stored -- besides UN.

[citizenx]

Quebec bird deaths stump wildlife officials
By JEAN-FRANCOIS RACINE, QMI Agency

Last Updated: January 7, 2011 3:19pm

StoryCommentsEmail Story Print Size A A A Report Typo
 
Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures. (DANIEL MALLARD/QMI Agency) MONTREAL — More than 80 pigeons have keeled over and died at a farm near Quebec City for unknown reasons, the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths around the world.

Environmental officials in the province say there’s no connection to a similar case in Arkansas, but Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures...


...He said wildlife officials took seven of the dead birds for analysis and told him not to speak with the media. Still, the feisty landowner called a local radio station to recount the incident.
“There’s something going on,” he said. “This is not normal.”

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/01/07/16802701.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE:  read the first comment re. fracking!  (Still, high on my list also.)


My latest hero, Sylvain Turmel: Feisty Farmer.

[citizenx]

Latest die-off from Taiwan from GLP:

TRANSLATION


China Taiwan News Online January 8 and more recently across the United States from wild birds and river fish mass die-off event, but potential in mountainous areas in Taichung County, 7 also found that more than 100 wild birds died suddenly, at the initial vaccination Taichung Animal Protection Rule out avian influenza, and collected samples and sent to the Taiwan authorities, "the Council of Agriculture, " Animal Health Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute far as tested, I hope to clarify the cause of death.

According to Taiwan "in the Canton News " reported that BCDC Taichung Animal Protection received notification, in the mountains east of wild birds died suddenly potential. The deal sent found at the scene about 5 species of wild birds, including about 100 Black Bulbul, the birds of about 30, two white ears thrush, magpie a tree, and Pulsatilla, etc., for a total of about 150 dead wild birds Only.

Distributed in two dead wild birds under the persimmon fruit garden, the appearance of dead birds, only the normal form, there is no weight loss cases, mucous membrane and skin surface is also no bleeding or bleeding spots. BCDC staff initially ruled out the possibility of avian flu caused by the scene in addition collected specimens, but also spraying disinfectant, samples were sent to the Taiwan authorities, "the Council of Agriculture, " Animal Health Research Institution for Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute tests.

BCDC Taichung City Council asked Mr. Lin said wild birds, Black Bulbul and colored bird in the fall and winter will be a collective foraging, addicted to eating sweet and juicy fruit, therefore, most likely due to eating the fruits after spraying , Resulting in mass poisoning, but did cause of death has yet to be test results. In addition, BCDC and the local district office visits Tungshih two chicken farms, at present in good condition, not anything unusual. (China Taiwan Network Feng Jiang)

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1314659/pg1

video (in Chinese):

http://news.ifeng.com/taiwan/video/detail_2011_01/08/4127512_0.shtml

[citizenx]

And Hungary -- gulls behaving strangely and dying en masse:

Újpest birds! Tényleg, mi jöhet még? Really, what next?
Király András Andrew King
2011. 2011th január 8., szombat 09:54 January 8, Saturday 9:54
Továbbra is furán viselkednek – már ha a tömeges, egyidejű pusztulást viselkedésnek tekintjük – a világ madarai és halai. Continues to behave strangely - if you have a massive, simultaneous destruction behavior is considered - the world's birds and fish. Az újévi arkansas-i madár- és halpusztulás óta minden nap újabb és újabb rejtélyes vagy kevésbé rejtélyes pusztulás története bukkan fel a világsajtóban. New Year's arkansas mortality of birds and more and more each day since the mysterious destruction or less story pops up mysteriously in the world press. Tömeghalálról Magyarországon még nincs hír, de Újpesten már észrevételeztek furán viselkedő sirályokat. Tömeghalálról Hungary has no news, but Újpest already observed behaving strangely seagulls. Látunk mi még karón varjút! What we see is the arm crow!


hirdetésÁrnyékok suhantak el Cs. Viktor újpesti lakos 7. Shadows swept away Thurs 7th Viktor Ujpest residents emeleti lakásának ablaka előtt. floor window of his apartment before. "Az ablakhoz állva láttam meg ezeket a madarakat, akik talán sirályok lehettek, a galamboknál mindenképpen nagyobbak, össze-vissza repkedtek, az erkély előtt centikre felkanyarodva. Annyira be voltak vadulva, hogy nem tudtam kimenni az erkélyre, végig bennem volt, hogy Hitchcock madaraihoz hasonlóan nekem is esnének ezek a dögök" – írta szerkesztőségünknek Viktor, és egy videót is csatolt. "I saw them standing in the window, the birds, who could possibly gulls, pigeons in any of the larger, flew up and down, inches from the front balcony felkanyarodva. Vadulva were in so that I could not go out to the balcony, through me, was that Hitchcock's birds Like me, these beasts can fall "- Viktor wrote the editorial, and a video is attached.


Nem, Újpesten még nem döglenek a madarak. No, not yet Újpest döglenek birds. Óbudán sem, bár ott is gyanúsan viselkednek. Obuda either, although there are also behaving suspiciously. "Pontosan ezt éltem át én is néhány napja Óbudán, a feleségemmel rettegve bújtunk össze a kanapén. Aztán észrevettük, hogy egy másik lakó az ablakból eteti a sirályokat" – talált magyarázatot a történtekre S. "That's exactly what I lived through a few days ago I Obuda, my wife and I huddled together on the sofa in terror. Then I noticed that another resident of the window, feeding the seagulls" - found the explanation of what happened S. Gábor helyi lakos. Gabor local residents.

Máshol nem ilyen vidám a helyzet Elsewhere, the situation is not so cheerful
"Reméljük, hogy mérgezés. Azt nehezebb lenne feldolgozni, ha a közelgő végítélet jele lenne" – írja Faenza helyi újságja a településen tapasztalt tömeges madárpusztulásról. "We hope that the poisoning. It would be more difficult to process, if it would be a sign of impending doom" - writes in the Faenza local newspaper of the municipality experienced a mass madárpusztulásról. A Ravennához közeli olasz kisvárosban ezernél is több vándorgerle hullott alá az égből. The nearby Italian town of Ravenna in over a thousand vándorgerle fell from the sky. A tetemek csőrén kékes elszíneződést találtak, ami a tudósok szerint mérgezésre vagy oxigénhiányra utal. Beak bluish discoloration of the carcasses were found, which the scientists refer to as poisoning or lack of oxygen. Egyesekben gyanút ébresztett, hogy a tetemeket egy ipartelep közelében találták meg, de a WWF állatvédő szervezet helyi embere, Massimo Bolognesi szerint "túl egyszerű lenne az ipartelepet hibáztatni". Some people raised suspicions that the carcasses were found near an industrial plant, but the animal rights organization WWF, local people, according to Massimo Bolognesi "industrial units would be too easy to blame". A gyárak már évek óta ott vannak, és ugyan "néha-néha találtunk egy-egy döglött madarat, ennyit még sosem". The factories have been there, and although "sometimes find a dead bird, yet never so much." Teóriája szerint nem kizárt, hogy a madarak máshol szenvedték el a halált okozó mérgezést, "csak meghalni gyűltek ide". Theory that can not be ruled out that the birds elsewhere suffered the fatal poisoning, "just came here to die."

A halál kamionja mindenkit elgázol Death truck run over everybody
A tömeges madárpusztulási hullám tehát elérte Európát is. A massive wave madárpusztulási thus reached Europe. Olaszország mellett Svédországban is tapasztalták, ott Falkoping egyik utcáján találtak száz halott csókát. Besides Sweden, Italy, also found there Falkoping one hundred were found dead in street kiss. Bár a rendőrség elsőre azt állította, a madarakon nem találtak sérüléseket, a Svéd Állatorvosi Intézet (SVA) öt kiválasztott tetem boncolása után arra jutott, nagy erőhatás ölte meg őket. Although at first the police claimed there was no damage to the birds, the Swedish Veterinary Institute (SVA) for five selected after cadaver dissection, concludes a large force was killed by them. "Hogy pontosan mi végzett velük, azon túl, hogy külső erőhatás, annak kiderítése már nem a mi szakterületünk. Ami eszembe jut, az az, hogy felszállás közben elütötték őket, vagy valami" – nyilatkozta a TT hírügynökségnek Olov Anderson, az SVA szóvivője. "Exactly what is done with them, in addition to external force, to ascertain whether it is not our area of expertise. What I remember is that they are hit by a car during take-off, or something" - said the news agency TT Olov Anderson, spokesman for the SVA.


Teóriáját erősíti, hogy a falkopingi esetet magára vállalta egy kamionsofőr. Theory confirms that the incident Falköping undertook a truck driver. Christer Olofosson átgázolt egy madárrajon, de nem gondolta, hogy ez "nagy ügy" lenne. Christer Olofosson a plowed on through flocks, but did not think that this "big deal" would be. Aztán másnap beleolvasott az újságba. Beleolvasott then the next day in the newspaper.

Nem tudták, hogy ennyi van, míg mind el nem pusztult They did not know that so many have been destroyed while both
Az eseményeket az Egyesült Államokban sem lehet megállítani. The events in the United States can not stop it. Ott az újévi arkansas-i hal- és madárpusztolást további hal- és madárpusztulások követték, ezek azonban térben és időben elkülönültek. No New Year's there in arkansas fish and more fish and madárpusztolást madárpusztulások followed, but they are separated in space and time. Marylandben, a Chesapeak-öböl déli részén kétmillió pettyes árnyékhal pusztult el hirtelen. Maryland, in the southern Gulf Chesapeak two million died suddenly spotted weakfish. A szakértők szerint a nagy hideg miatt. According to experts, because of the great cold. Hogy ez milyen hatással van az árnyékhal-populációra, azt nehéz megállapítani. How this affects the population of weakfish, it is difficult to establish. Az árnyékhalak amúgy sem hosszú életűek, ezért a tudomány eddig nem igazán törődött populációdinamikájuk vizsgálatával. Árnyékhalak the long-lived anyway, so the science has not really bothered by examining population dynamics. Így nehéz biztosat állítani, de egyes szakértők szerint nem kizárt, hogy túlszaporodás lehet a pusztulás oka. Thus, it is difficult to stop for sure, but some experts say it is conceivable that the overgrowth can cause devastation.


Pettyes árnyékhal Spotted weakfish
Európában halpusztulást nem tapasztaltak, de rákpusztulást igen. In Europe there were no fishing mortality, but very rákpusztulást. Angliában, Thanetnél negyvenezer döglött bársonyrákot mosott ki a dagály a partra. England, forty thousand dead Thanetnél bársonyrákot tide washed up on the shore. "Tavaly összeomlott az állomány, nem is gondoltuk, hogy ennyien lehetnek" – jelezte meglepetését a partszakaszt gondozó társaság projektmenedzsere, Tony Childs a Daily Mailnek. "Last year, the stock collapsed, is not thought that much could be" - expressed surprise at the beaches care company project manager, Tony Childs of the Daily Mail.


Bársonyrák Bársonyrák
Madárfronton az Egyesült Államok déli részéről érkeztek jelentések újabb esetekről. Madárfronton the southern United States for new cases have been reported. Louisianában egy Pointe Coupee megyei autópálya-szakaszon találtak több száz döglött madarat – gulyamadarat, gulyajárót, seregélyt és csolnafarkút vegyesen. Louisiana Pointe Coupé is a county highway sections have been found hundreds of dead birds - gulyamadarat, gulyajárót, starlings and csolnafarkút mixed. A madarak a gyanú szerint nagyfeszültségű távvezetéknek repülhettek. The birds fly to the suspicion that high-voltage transmission lines. Hogy miért? Why? Nem ok nélkül, legalábbis Dan Cristol, a William és Mary Egyetem Integratív Madár-viselkedéstani Intézetének társalapítója szerint "véletlenül nem repülnek neki a villanyvezetékeknek". Not without reason, at least Dan Cristol, University of William and Mary co-founded the Institute for Integrative Bird behavioral states that "it would not accidentally fly the wiring."

Nem is olyan érdekes Not so interesting
Cristol ennél mélyebben nem ment bele a dologba, nem úgy a National Geographic. Cristol did not go more deeply into the affair, it is not National Geographic. A lapban megszólaltatott tudósok egyöntetűen arra utalgattak, hogy a tömeges madárpusztulásokban semmi meglepő nincs. The scientists unanimously to utalgattak journal sounded that mass madárpusztulásokban is nothing surprising. Idézik az arkansas-i esetről készült legfrissebb szakértői jelentéseket is, amelyek alapján az alvó madarakat felriasztotta a tüzijáték, és zavarodottságukban tárgyaknak repültek. Quoted in the Arkansas case of the most recent expert reports, which are based on the sleeping birds felriasztotta the fireworks, and flying objects zavarodottságukban.


Egy, a Discovery Newsnak nyilatkozó kutató, Robert Meese szerint is "rengetegszer előfordul az ilyesmi, csak általában senki sem jegyzi fel". A Discovery Research News spokesperson, Robert Meese as is "sort of thing happens many times, but usually no one says it." Elmondása szerint az Egyesült Államokban az elmúlt harminc évben 16 olyan esetről tudnak, amiben legalább ezer madár pusztult el egyszerre. He said that the United States over the past thirty years, they identified 16 cases in which at least a thousand birds have died at once. Az újévben történt madárpusztulások pedig meg sem közelítik azt az 1904 márciusában, Iowában feljegyzett eseményt, amikor egy viharban 1,5 millió sarkantyús sármány vesztette életét. Madárpusztulások of the New Year and it has not even come close in March 1904, Iowa recorded incident where a storm spurred Bunting 1.5 million lost their lives.

Meese és a National Geographicnak nyilatkozó tudósok egyaránt utalgattak rá, hogy a madárpusztulási járványról valójában a sajtó tehet. Meese and National Geographic scientists are declaring utalgattak out that in fact the press may madárpusztulási epidemic. Persze nem azt állítják, hogy unatkozó újságírók rémisztik halálra a madarakat. Of course not claim that journalists bored to death frightening the birds. Hanem azt, hogy unalmukban minden pimf tömeges állatpusztulásról beszámolnak. But that all unalmukban pimf mass állatpusztulásról report.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://index.hu/bulvar/2011/01/08/madarak_repkednek_ujpesten_tenyleg_mi_johet_meg/&ei=QWAoTbrnFsSh8QPTnbHpAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://index.hu/bulvar/2011/01/08/madarak_repkednek_ujpesten_tenyleg_mi_johet_meg/%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26prmd%3Divns

video and images at link

[Dig]

George Mason University
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
http://binf.gmu.edu/index.html

The Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is dedicated to advancing the application of computational methods to cutting-edge problems in biology. The new field of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is making critical contributions to diverse areas such as disease detection, drug design, forensics, agriculture and environmental sciences through the combination of biological analysis and high-performance computing.

Research in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology addresses the integration of genomic, gene expression and clinical databases, the analysis of protein structure and function, models of molecular, cellular and metabolic processes, and models of regulatory networks. Departmental research also addresses fundamental computational methods with applications in bioinformatics, including computational geometry, image processing, pattern recognition, and data mining. Departmental research is supported through grants from NIH, NSF, USDA and other agencies.

The Department offers a variety of academic programs that address the growing demand for computational biologists. The Ph.D. and M.S. degrees are based on a fully articulated set of specialized graduate courses in Bioinformatics. A Certificate in Bioinformatics is available for professionals who wish to advance their career goals, but who may not have adequate time available to undertake a graduate degree program. On the undergraduate level, starting in the fall of 2007 a Bioinformatics minor is available. Students also benefit from the Department's long-term relationships with the Washington capital region's many federal research labs and biotechnology companies, leading to numerous opportunities for employment.

The Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is based on the Prince William Campus of George Mason University.

Research Activities


Research in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology addresses the integration of genomic, gene expression and clinical databases, the analysis of protein structure and function, models of molecular, cellular and metabolic processes, and models of regulatory networks. Departmental research also addresses fundamental computational methods with applications in bioinformatics, including computational geometry, image processing, pattern recognition, and data mining. Departmental research is supported through grants from NIH, NSF, USDA and other agencies.
Selected Research Projects


Molecular Environmental Sciences and Genomic Evolution (Dr. Patrick Gillevet): Development of a prototype database to integrate phenotypic, metabolic, and genotypic data; new capillary technology technology for high throughput genomic sequencing and environmental monitoring. Applications include the toxic dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida, and monitoring soil ecosystems during bioremediation processes.

Cellular Modeling (Dr. Saleet Jafri): Improve understanding of heart disease through modeling of cardiac cells; models of cardiac excitation contraction coupling, cardiac energy metabolism; cellular signaling and biochemical reaction networks.

Image Processing Methods (Dr. Jason Kinser): Image registration, display, lane tracking, and base-calling from DNA sequencing machines. Development of new autowave approaches to phylogenetic tree construction. Optical computing application to DNA sequence analysis. New methods for pulse image processing with applications to biometrics: the measurement of humans using a myriad of data types (fingerprints, faces, DNA, shoe prints, speech, etc.)

Protein Aggregation and Unfolding (Dr. Dmitri Klimov) Computational models of protein aggregation with a focus on the assembly of Abeta amyloids, which cause Alzheimer's disease; computational models of forced (mechanical) unfolding of proteins. Methods include the all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins or peptides in explicit solvent. These topics are critical to understanding the molecular aspects of Alzheimer's disease and mechanical functions of proteins in living organisms.

Genomics and bioinformatics of human adenoviruses (Dr. Donald Seto): Human adenoviruses are important infectious disease pathogens that are public health concerns globally, especially in the denser populations- particularly amongst otherwise healthy children and young adults. The now recognized 55 types are partitioned into seven species, based on their biology and pathology, with novel and emerging strains appearing. Cell tropism and disease are functions of species division and ultimately of their genomes. Defined sets of these viruses are responsible for respiratory disease, ocular disease, GI tract disease, urinary tract disease or metabolic disease. Recently the application of genome sequencing and computational analysis has provided a paradigm change in clinical virology- using whole genome data rather than limited serology data to characterize and name novel and emerging adenoviruses. Dr. Seto's lab and collaborators are at the forefront of this approach, providing 25 sequenced genomes to the original database of five, and adding another 30 in progress. The definition of adenoviruses by genomics and bioinformatics, particularly phylogenomics, by these collaborating labs have served to change the Gold Standard by which adenoviruses are recognized, defining one type solely by bioinformatics and one new species definition. Continuing research have demonstrated in fine molecular detail the role genome recombination plays in adenovirus and pathogen evolution. The available genomes will be analyzed using existing bioinformatic tools, some of which have been developed by these collaborators. The goal is to understand the pathoepidemiology as well as the mechanisms of molecular evolution of these human pathogens. Projects in the laboratory and collaborations include: 1. Genome sequencing; 2. Genome bioinformatics; 3. Computational and comparative genome tools development; and 4. Pathogen diagnostics and surveillance tools. Additionally, we are involved in establishing viral genome annotation standards (Third JCVI-NIH workshop; Apr 2010) and human adenovirus nomenclature standards (9th International Adenovirus Meeting; Apr 2009).I am also interested in molecular-based detection of adenovirus infections.

Protein Structural Analysis Through Computational Geometry (Dr. Iosif Vaisman): Development of new methods for protein structure compariosn and alignment based on topological substructure descriptors. Potential applications include ligand effect on protein topology in the inhibitor complexes with HIV and SIV proteases or topological changes in DNA polymerases in protein-DNA complexes.

Metabolic System Analysis (Dr. James Willett): Rapid assays for effectors using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Recording responses of biochemical pathways to physiologic state modifiers with applications to elucidating the mechanisms of action of neurotoxicants, and dietary supplements purported to have life extending properties. Analysis of alterations in signaling arrays in nematodes as a function of age.

Exploratory Data Analysis on Bioinformatic Data Structures (Dr. Jeff Solka): Investigating the relationship between dimensionality reduction and discovery. The application of modern clustering methodologies to bioinformatices data. The discovery of relevant data structure in the face of extremely high dimensional data.The general exploitation of unstructured data.

Arnold, J., Janoska, M., Kajon, A.E., Metzgar, D., Hudson, N.R., Torres, S., Harrach, B., Seto, D., Chodosh, J. and Jones, M.S. (2010). Genomic characterization of human adenovirus 36, a putative obesity agent. Virus Research 149: 152-161. [Epub 01/28/10].
Brister, J.R., Bao, Y., Kuiken, C., Lefkowitz, E., Le Mercier, P., Leplae, R., Madupu, R., Scheuermann, R., Schobel, S., Seto, D., Shrivastava, S., Sterk, P., Zeng, Q., Klimke W. and T. Tatusova. (2010). Towards viral genome annotation standards, Report from the 2010 NCBI Annotation Workshop. Viruses 2(10): 2258-2268. (Editorial).
Chang, W. E., Takeda, T., Raman, E. P., & Klimov, D.K. (2010) Molecular dynamics simulations of anti-aggregation effect of ibuprofen. Biophys. J. (in press).
Liu GE, Hou Y, Zhu B, Cardone MF, Jiang L, Cellamare A, Mitra A, Alexander LJ, Coutinho LL, Dell'aquila ME, Gasbarre LC, Lacalandra G, Li RW, Matukumalli LK, Nonneman D, Regitano LC, Smith TP, Song J, Sonstegard TS, Van Tassell CP, Ventura M, Eichler EE, McDaneld TG, Keele JW. Analysis of copy number variations among diverse cattle breeds. Genome Res. 2010 Apr 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Mahadevan, P. and Seto, D. (2010). Rapid pair-wise synteny analysis of large bacterial genomes using web-based GeneOrder4.0. BMC Research Notes 3:41. [Epub 02/23/10]
Mahadevan, P. and D. Seto. (2010). In silico bioinformatic tools for determining core genes from sets of genomes. Drug Development Research 72: 1-6. (Review).
Mahadevan, P. and Seto, D. (2010). "Taxonomic parsing of bacteriophages using core genes and in silico proteome-based CGUG and applications to small bacterial genomes." Adv Exp Med Biol. 680: 379-385. in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Arabnia, H.R. (Ed.). ISBN 978-1-4419-5912-6. (Book chapter).
Mahadevan, P., Seto, J., Tibbetts, C. and D. Seto. (2010). Natural variants of human adenovirus type 3 provide evidence for relative genome stability across time and geographic space. Virology 397: 113-118. [Epub 11/23/09].
Masso M. Overcoming the Curse of Dimensionality in a Statistical Geometry Based Computational Protein Mutagenesis, Proc. IEEE ICDM BioDM Workshop (2010) 719-725.
Masso M. Improving Prediction Accuracy via Subspace Modeling in a Statistical Geometry Based Computational Protein Mutagenesis, Int J Knowl Disc Bioinformatics 1 (2010) 54-68.
Masso M. and Vaisman I.I. Structure-Based Machine Learning Models for Computational Mutagenesis, in Introduction to Protein Structure Prediction: Methods and Algorithms (eds: H. Rangwala and G. Karypis), Wiley Book Series on Bioinformatics, December 2010. ISBN: 9780470470596 (Textbook)
Masso M. and Vaisman I.I. Accurate and Efficient gp120 V3 Loop Structure Based Models for the Determination of HIV-1 Co-receptor Usage, BMC Bioinformatics 11 (2010) 494.
Masso M. and Vaisman I.I. Knowledge-Based Computational Mutagenesis for Predicting the Disease Potential of Human Non-Synonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, J Theor Biol 266 (2010) 560-568.
Masso M. and Vaisman I.I. AUTO-MUTE: Web-Based Tools for Predicting Stability Changes in Proteins Due to Single Amino Acid Replacements, Protein Eng Des Sel 23 (2010) 683-687.
Ramay, H. R., M. S. Jafri, W. J. Lederer, and E. A. Sobie. 2010. Predicting local SR Ca2+ dynamics during Ca2+ wave propagation in ventricular myocytes. Biophys. J. 98(11):(in press)
Robinson, C.M., Gurdeep, S., Henquell, C., Walsh, M.P., Peigue-Lafeuille, H., Seto, D., Jones, M.S., Dyer, D.W. and J. Chodosh. (2010). Computational analysis and identification of an emergent human adenovirus pathogen implicated in a respiratory fatality. In press, Virol. [Epub 11/05/10].
Seto, D. (2010). Viral genomics and bioinformatics. Viruses 2: 2587-2593. (Editorial).
Seto, J., Walsh, M.P., Mahadevan, P. , Zhang, Q. and D. Seto. (2010). Applying genomic and bionformatic resources to human adenovirus genomes for use in vaccine development and for applications in vector development for gene delivery. Viruses 2: 1-26.
Seto, J*., Walsh, M.P*., Metzgar, D. and Seto, D. (2010). Computational analysis of adenovirus serotype 5 (HAdV-C5) from a HAdV coinfection shows genome stability after 45 years of circulation. Virology 404: 180-186. [Epub 06/03/10]. *equal contributions.
Takeda, T., & Klimov, D.K. (2010) Computational backbone mutagenesis of Abeta peptides: Probing the role of backbone hydrogen bonds in aggregation. J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 4755-4762.
Takeda, T. & Klimov, D. K. (2010) Side chain interactions can impede amyloid fibril growth: Replica exchange simulations of Abeta peptide mutant. Biophys. J. 98, 649.
Torres, S., Chodosh, J., Seto, D. and M.S. Jones. (2010). The revolution in viral genomics as exemplified by the bioinformatic analysis of human adenoviruses. Viruses 2(7): 1367-1381. (Review).
Walsh, M.P., Seto, J., Jones, M.S., Chodosh, J., Xu, W.and D. Seto. (2010). Computational analysis identifies human adenovirus type 55 as a re-emergent acute respiratory disease pathogen. J Clin Microbiol. 48: 991-993. [Epub 12/30/09]
Walsh, M.P., Seto, J., Tirado, D., Chodosh, J., Seto, D*. and Jones, M.S. (2010). Computational analysis of human adenovirus type 18. Virology 404: 284-292. [Epub 06/07/10]. *corresponding author.
Williams, G. S., G. D. Smith, E. A. Sobie, and M. S. Jafri. 2010. Models of cardiac excitation-contraction coupling in ventricular myocytes. Math. Biosci. 226(1):1-15.
Alumni

Ph.D.

Akula, Nirmala (2009)
"A Network-Based Approach to Prioritize Results from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) in Multigenic Traits"
Advisor: Seto

Alkharouf, Nadim (2004)
"Functional Genomics of the Soybean-Cyst Nematode Interaction"
Advisor: Matthews
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Towson University

Alsheddi, Tariq (2007)
"A computational geometry approach to the analysis of structure-function relationship in Beta strand proteins"
Advisor: Vaisman

Al-Timimi, Ali (2005)
"Chaos and Complexity in Cancer"
Advisor: Jamison

Amundsen, Keenan (2009)
"Origin and Evolution of Cultivated Agrostis Spp"
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Post-Doctoral position at USDA

Banerjee, Nilanjana (2004)
"Combinatorial transcription regulation: insights from integration of diverse genomic data"
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: Joint Centers for Systems Biology, Irving Cancer Research Center

Barb, Jennifer (2009)
"Elucidating a splice variant list using the Affymetrix Human Exon 1.0 St Array: effective probeset filters are essential"
Advisor: Solka
Current Position: Systems Analyst, NIH Center for Information Technology

Barenboim, Maxim (2005)
"A Neuro-Fuzzy Approach to Classification of Human Non-Synonymous SNPs Based upon Computational Geometry"
Advisor: Jamison

Carr, David Andrew (2006)
"Site identification in proteins using a computational geometry approach and multi-body statistical potentials"
Advisor: Vaisman

Chikando, Aristide (2008)
"A Computational Study of Excitation-Contraction Coupling: Mechanisms of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Leak and the Role of Mitochondria in Myoplasmic Calcium Regulation"
Advisor: Jafri

Deshmukh, Hrishikesh (2006)
"Probe-based data cleansing and unsupervised, supervised approaches for gene-level analyses"
Advisor: Weller

Diggans, James (2008)
"Biothreat Detection by Random Oligomer-Based Microarray"
Advisor: Weller
Current Position: MITRE Inc., Computational Biology group leader

Erb, Robert (1999)
"Analysis and Modeling of Gene Expression Circuits"
Advisor: Michaels
Current Position: Gene Logic, Inc.

Ding, Yan (2007)
"On the Complexity Measures of Protein Mutant Activity, Stability, and Evolution"
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: Principal Software Engineer, QuadraMed Corporation

Erwin, Harry (2000)
"A Computational Sensormotor Model of Bat Biosonar"
Advisor: Moss
Current Position: University of Sunderland, School of Computing and Technology

Garian, Robert (2000)
"Prediction of Dimeric Structure of Proteins from Amino Acid Sequences"
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Library of Congress

Glanowski, Stephen (2004)
"Computational Analysis of Mitochondrial Sequence Diversity in Shotgun Sequence Data"
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: Avalon Pharmaceuticals

Guo, Yongjian (2005)
"The Distribution of Human SNPs in Gene Promoter and Coding Regions"
Advisor: Jamison
Current Position: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute

Heiman, Thomas (2006)
"An Empirical Assessment of Aggregation and Asynchrony on the Inference of Gene Networks from Gene Expression Data"
Advisor: Grefenstette

Higgs, Brandon (2006)
"Deriving Meaningful Structure from Spectral Embedding"
Advisors: Weller and Solka
Current Position: Mitre Corporation

Johnson, Kory (2009)
"Genomic Profiling of Blood for Stroke Diagnosis"
Advisor: Solka
Current Position: Sr. Bioinformatics Scientist, National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Kadoi, Ryosuke (2008)
"Calcineurin-NFAT Signaling Network: Microarray Meta-Analysis on Mouse Genome"
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: SIOS Technology Inc.,Tokyo, software engineer

Kahn, Ari (2007)
"Biological and technological implications of gene splice variants"
Advisor: Jamison

Kim, Sohyoung (2004)
"Mechanisms and Models of Gene Regulation"
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: Post-doc, NIH

Kritchmar, Jeff (1977)
"A Computational Model of Cerebellar Saccadic Control"
Advisor: Hunter
Current Position: The Neurosciences Institute

Leung, Elo (2007)
"Validating Gene Expression Results from Microarray Data"
Advisor: Weller/Solka

Lin, Ming-Kuan (2009)
"Gene association study of spatial working memory"
Advisor: Fryxell

Luo, Yong (2009)
"Computational Geometry Approach to the Analysis of Organism-Dependent Features in Protein Structures"
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: Research associate for nonprofit org

Mahadevon, Padmanabhan (2008)
"Data Mining Human Adenovirus Genomes Using Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics Approaches"
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Vanderbilt University, post-doc in comparative genomics and evolution

Masso, Majid (2006)
"Application of statistical geometry to the functional analysis of protein mutants"
Advisor: Vaisman

Mathe, Ewy (2006)
"Computational Approaches to Study Structural and Functional Effects of Single Point Mutations"
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: Bioinformatics Staff Scientist, NIH

Matukumalli, Lakshmi Kumar (2004)
"Development of Bioinformatics Applications for Prediction and Validation of Polymorphisms in Soybean (Glycine Max) Genome using EST Data"
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: Post-doc, George Mason University, USDA

McGrath, Connor (2000)
"Homology Modeling of Retroviral Zinc Fingers"
Advisor: Michaels
Current Position: NCI

Moon, Won Jong (2006)
"Co-expressed gene clusters in the human and mouse genomes, mutational analysis of SNPS, and DNA microarray methods"
Advisor: Fryxell
Current Position: Research scientist, Duffy Lab, Malaria Program, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute

Nguyen, My-Hanh Thi (2006)
"A Computational model of the Regulation of Mitochondrial Respiration in Cardiac Ventricular Myocytes"
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Innovation Laboratory (http://innovation.swmed.edu/), position title: Postdoctoral Fellow

Pierce, John (2006)
Two studies of anthrax. I. Altered gene expression in anthrax-infected mice. II. Mathematical modeling of the anthrax infection process"
Advisor: Jamison

Raman, Eshwar (2008)
"Exploring Protein Folding in-vivo Using Coarse Grained Models"
Advisor: Klimov
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Univ. Maryland

Ramay, Hena (2007)
"A computational study of excitation contracrtion coupling in rat ventricular myocytes"
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: Department of Pharmacology, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Ravich, Vadim (2006)
"Computational Studies of Structure and Function of Viral Reverse Transcriptase"
Advisor: Vaisman

Reck, Gregory (2007)
"Adaptation and use of four-body statistical potential to examine thermodynamic properties of proteins"
Advisor: Vaisman

Ryan, Michael (2009)
"SpliceCenter: a suite of web-based bioinformatics applications for evaluating the impact of alternative splicing on RT-PCR, RNAi, microarray, and peptide-based studies"
Advisor: John Weinstein
Current Position: Partner, Tiger Team Consulting

Shah, Imran (1999)
"Predicting Enzyme Function From Sequence"
Advisor: Hunter
Current Position: Asst. Prof.,Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Sudama, Gita (2008)
"Are There Observable Metabolic Signature Patterns in C. elegans: Specifically for Different Life Stages Grown with and without the Added Antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E"
Advisor: Willett

Tanabe, Loraine (2003)
"Text Mining in the Biomedical Literature for Genetic Knowledge"
Advisor: Hunter
Current Position: Staff Scientist, Computational Biology Branch, National Center for BioTechnology Information, National Institute of Health

Taylor, Ronald (2003)
"Reconstruction of Metabolic and Genetic Networks form Gene Expression Perturbation Data Using a Boolean Model: Construction of a Simulation Testbed and an Empirical Exploration of Some of the Limits"
Advisor: Hunter
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, work phone: (509) 372-6568

Taylor, Todd (2006)
"Analysis of the structure and topology of real and model proteins using Delaunay tessellation"
Advisor: Vaisman

Thompson, Kevin (2008)
"An Adenocarcinoma case study of the BaFL Protocol: Biological Probe Filtering for Robust Microarray Analys"
Advisor: Weller
Current Position: UNCC, post-doc, Medical center

Tongvichit, Navachat (1997)
"Web Based Genographics used in Federated Information Manager for Genome Analysis"
Advisor: Michaels

Vandersluis, Patrick (1999)
"Detecting Silent Ischemia: Enhanced Visualization of Cardiac Electrophysiology Using Virtual Leads"
Advisor: Wegman
Current Position: Chairman and CEO, HealthRX Corp

Villa-Angulo, Rafael (2009)
"COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR HAPLOTYPE INFERENCE WITH APPLICATION TO HAPLOTYPE BLOCK CHARACTERIZATION IN CATTLE"
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: Professor, Engineering Institute, University of Baja California (in Mexico)

Yang, Pei-Chi (2007)
"A computational analysis of signal transduction pathways and transcriptional factors in T lymphocytes"
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medical College

Zeeberg, Barry (1999)
"Whole Genome Information Analysis and Processing"
Advisors: Hunter and Michaels
Current Position: NIH/NCI/LMP

Zhan, Shili(2007)
"Computational Mutagenesis Models for Protein Activity and Stability Analysis"
Advisor: Vaisman
M.S.


Heiman, Thomas (2003)
Degree: MS in Computational Sciences and Infomatics
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: SRA

Tibriwal, Aruna (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: Software Engineer, NCICB/SAIC

Chilukuri, Jyothsna (2004)
degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Grefenstette
Current Position: Knowledge Analyst, NCICB

Su, Jing (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Research Assoc. Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Ctr

Samridhi, Goswami (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Dept of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, PhD candidate and GeneLogic.

Kumari, Sunita (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

Thornton, Jennifer (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Position: Contractor/Bioinformatics Analyst/Programmer, Ft. Belvoir

Chapman, David (2004)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Position: Research Assoc/Bioinformatics Analyst, University of Texas

Xiang, Yan (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: SuperArray Bioscience Corp.

Jahangeer, Muffarah (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Summers
Current Position: Adjunct Faculty, George Mason University

Gan, Jai-Wei (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jamison

Chen, Huiru (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Clark, James (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Biostatistical Programmer Analyst, Immune Tolerance Network
Current Position: Software Engineer, Medical Informatics, at CodeRyte

Halavi, Maryam (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Ascoli

Hanumanula, Madhuri (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
NIH Contractor/Data Analyst, NCI
Current Position: Systems Coordinator in medical studies at EMMES Corp.

Kambam, Narendra (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Schwartz, Karen (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller
Current Position: Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute

Shen, Peng (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jamison
Current Position: Information Specialist, ATCC

Yin, Zhong (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Winfrey, Sarah (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet

Palanigobu, Vasuki (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

Bittenbender, Sarah (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller
Current Position: SAIC

Muthuluru, Aruna (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: Statistical Programming Analyst, Quintiles Inc.

Sims, Jason (2005)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jafri

Alam, Farhana (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

Barker, Jessica (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet

Diaz, Maricar (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser

Dinh, Lan Chi (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Quest Diagnostics Inc., Nichols Institute

Dommaraju, Kalpana (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Bioinformatics Analyst NIH/NCI

Nathan, Shyam (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet

Rajamani, Saraswathi (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Mehari, Yonas (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Rainey, Timothy (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: Symmetron, LLC

Annavarapu, Swapna (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Bioinformatics Analyst. TIGR

Banskota, Nirad (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Brower, Rachel (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

Ko, Chi-hung (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Bioinformatics Analyst. SAIC-Frederick/NIH-NIAID

Mathuria, Jyothi (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Klimov

Rabah, Shaun (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

Ryan, Michael (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jamison
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Tavakoli, Tahereh (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: ATCC

Walsh, Michael (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jamison

Acharya, Mekhala (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Dept. of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Phd candidate
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Liu, Elizabeth (2006)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Adini, Pratyusha (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Bhimidi, Tashfeen (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser

Horton, Anita (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research topic: Evolution and variation of the human adenovirus
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Cell Biology Information Specialist, ATCC

Johnson, Seth (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Tappita, Kishor (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet

White, John (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Bioinformatics Applications Analyst, TerpSys/NCICB

Al-Razgan, Othman (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Gangiredla, Jayanthi (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Bioinformatics Applications Specialist, CFSAN/FDA

He, Jun (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jafri

Kumar, Rashmi (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Jafri
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Narala, Manaswini (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Yeboah, Spencer (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Inova Fairfax Hospital

Zukas, Anthony (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Solka/Weller
Current Position: SAIC

Agarwal, Ankur (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser

Tanksale, Kavita (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Alpert, Meredith (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Khoshnevis, Saeed (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Weller

King, John (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
Current Position: Founder and Principal, King Domain Corp., LLC

Mistry, Minal (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser

Nadella, Kasturi (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Klimov

Wisittipanit, Nuttachat (2007)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Kinser
Current Position: PhD Student, Dept. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Downs, Robert (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: DNA to Protein Patenting Issues
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Patent Law, Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch LLP

Joshi, Natasha (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Computational modeling of the Cofilin Pathway
Advisor: Jafri

Kanchinadam, Krishna M. (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: DataMapX: A tool for cross-mapping entities and attributes between bioinformatics databases.
Advisor: Weller, Jennifer
Current Position: 5AM Solutions Inc. (http://www.5amsolutions.com)/National Cancer Institute, NIH

Shetty, Ahana (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Comparison of two genome sequences representing Ad5 and a recent isolate Ad5FS for recombination
Advisor: Seto

Ullagaddi, Anita (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Study of recombinant adenoviruses in humans
Advisor: Seto

Vemana, Haritha (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Annotation of Mariprofundus Ferroxydans bacterial genome
Advisor: Seto

Cole, Steven (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics

Kanaparthi, Sri Krishna (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics

Krishnamoorthy, Venkat (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics

Seifuddin, Fayaz (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Current Position: Johns Hopkins bioinformatics analyst

Sharma, Shalabh (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Current Position: Scientific Computing professional,Bioinformatics Specialist (University of Georgia)
Advisor: Seto

Enugala, Sravanthy (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Kruthiventi, Krishna (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Vaisman

Mishra, Pamela (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Unbinding of A-beta peptides from amyloid fibrils: Explicit solvent molecular dynamics study
Current Position: Naval Medical Research Center
Advisor: Klimov

O'Connor, Mark (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Research Topic: Development of a Relational Database for Studying the Content and Differential miRNA Expression within and across the Mammmalian Species
Advisor: Matukumalli
Current Position: Medical lab technologist, Quest Diagnostics

Pachika, Preethi (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Srininvasan, Lakshmi (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Grefenstette

Tatavarty, Nagaswetha (2008)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Kakkar, Nipun (2009)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Grefenstette

Kammila, Gopy (2009)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto

Loke, Sanyukta (2009)
Degree: MS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Seto
M.S. New Professional Studies


Armistead, David (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Clearant

Brown, Robert (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Director of IT, Clearant

Buchanan, Janelle (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: Office of Science and Technology, National Institute of Justice

Carrera, Ana (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Applied Biosystems

Drainey, Zachary (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences,
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: Federal Bureau of Investigation DNA Unit 2

Enokpa, Emmanuel (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics,
Advisor: Gillevet

Gandreti, Vijaya (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: George Mason University Centre for Biomedical Genomics and Informatics

Hedges, Robyn (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: McKenney Current Position: Federal Bureau of Investigation DNA Unit 2

Hutson-Black, Janinne (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Sales Representative, Pfizer Inc.

Johnson, Thomas (2002)
Degree: MNPS in BioTechnology
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression, National Cancer Institute

Kebede, Solomon (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: IOMAI Corporation

Kifle, Gizachew (2002)
Degree: MNPS in BioTechnology
Advisor: Gillevet

Medicherla, Satyavathi (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: University of Maryland

Pineda, Marbin (2002)
Degree: MNPS in BioTechnology
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Geneticist, Laboratory or Population Genetics, National Cancer Institute

Satcher, Ryan (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: Dr. Keith McKenney
Current Position: Cellmark

Seeke, Swathi (2002)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet

Abrahle, Tesfom (2003)
Degree: MNPS in BioTechnology
Advisor: McKenney

Bradshaw, Dawn (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: General Dynamics-Advanced Information Systems

Brinkac, Lauren (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: Bioinformatics Analyst, Institute for Genomic Research

Wilson, Glenda (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: George Mason University

Jamison, Debra (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: BioReliance

Ryan, Christopher (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Bioinformatics
Advisor: Gillevet
Current Position: George Mason University

Wilson, Stacey (2003)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: Maryland State Police Crime Lab

Hasychak, Bryony (2004)
Degree: MNPS in Forensic Biosciences
Advisor: McKenney
Current Position: Bode Technology Group

Holloway, Linda (2005)
Degree: MNPS in BioTechnology
Advisor: Gillevet

[Dig]

The following is from an insider in Mitre's JASON project who exposes the absolute absense of a moral and ethical code within the most dangerous bio and chem manufacturing plants in the United States who are manufacturing various enhanced/militarized/aerosol forms of Anthrax and other chemical and biological weapons without any oversight at all. This paper is pre-9/11 and given the termination of the weaponized anthrax investigation as well as GMU studies, MITRE, chem trail planes, bird/fish pulmonary genocide, new forms of detection for aerosol anthrax (there is only one lab in the world where it comes from, are they planning on releasing this shit in the air from Evergreen's chemtrailers?), this paper should be read fully to understand what JASON/MITRE was doing and what are the current possible ramifications of their openly treasonous activities. I only included the first few and last few pages along with the notes. Please feel free to post relevant passages...

Living Nightmares:
Biological Threats Enabled by Molecular Biology
http://www.stanford.edu/group/blocklab/Block%20New%20Terror%20Chapter%202.pdf

This chapter draws on a 1997 summer study by JASON1 that I led on the threat posed by the development and use of biological agents. Rather than address the myriad problems posed by biological agents in general—a daunting and hopeless task—the JASON study focused instead, and from the outset, on one issue. Specifically, we took a hard look at what the near-term future of biological warfare held, based on how recent advances in the life sciences have changed the nature and scope of that threat. In brief, we concluded that progress in biomedical science inevitably has a dark side, and potentiates the development of an entirely new class of weapons of mass destruction (WMD): genetically engineered pathogens. The danger of such next-generation biological weapons (BW) in the twenty-first century is quite real, and they pose extraordinary challenges for detection, mitigation, and remediation.2

Prescience?

The JASON study proved to be rather timely. Shortly after our report was briefed, a popular account of bioterrorism with a genetically engineered pathogen was published, eventually making it onto the bestseller list: Richard Preston’s The Cobra Event.3 Although its plot was fictional—right down to the impossible supervirus it described—many of the supporting details in the novel were well researched and scientifically accurate. No question about it, this was scary stuff, a real eye-opener. Preston’s book was reportedly read by President Clinton,4 who was motivated to confer directly with a number of prominent biologists and biotechnologists about the credibility of Preston’s scenario. Two Presidential Decision Directives have since emerged that address aspects of chemical, biological, and cyber threats, along with other security issues (PDDs 62 and 63). During 1997–98, prospects for some form of BW attack, involving either conventional or genetically engineered agents, were reported extensively by the news media.5 Even the Journal of the American Medical Association devoted an entire issue to biological warfare concerns.6

This level of media attention undoubtedly aroused public interest in biological warfare—but was it alarmist hype, or largely warranted? On balance, I am inclined toward the latter view, for the following reason. Modern bioscience has led to the development of many powerful tools for manipulating genes. Such tools hold the key to revolutionary medical advances, among them gene therapy and the eventual abolition of fatal diseases such as cancer. But they make equally possible the creation of entirely new WMD, endowed with unprecedented power to destroy. It seems likely that such weapons will eventually come to exist, simply because of the lamentable ease with which they may be constructed. In contrast to nuclear weapons, BW do not require rare materials, such as enriched uranium or plutonium. They do not require rare finances: development and production are comparatively inexpensive. They do not require rare knowledge: most of the techniques involved are straightforward, well-documented, and in the public domain. Today, thousands of biologists worldwide possess the requisite skills, and more are trained every day (most often at US universities). Finally, they do not require rare infrastructure; some BW can be produced by small terrorist groups almost as easily as through national biological warfare programs. Inevitably, someone, somewhere, sometime seems bound to try something. So, for better or worse, genomics will change our world (see figure 2-1). It would be tragic if it took the biological equivalent of Hiroshima to muster our response. Like it or not, we need to begin certain preparations now.

Dimensions of the Threat

What can we anticipate? It seems reasonable to draw an analogy with the way that today’s nuclear threat developed.

[...]

Political and Military Response

In many respects, the BW threat is just like the nuclear threat—only worse! It poses significantly greater risks for the proliferation and control of arms. Our nation will need continually to revise its guidelines for political and military responses to BW use. The US should take a leadership position in helping to strengthen the provisions of the international Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) to include meaningful, multilateral inspections. The worldwide ban on biological weaponry must be enforceable.

Education: A Call from Arms

I should like to close with a personal observation. There is a regrettable lack of involvement by members of the professional biomedical community in issues related to BW, particularly among molecular biologists working in industry and academia. Some of this is understandable, because it is an exceedingly unpleasant topic to contemplate. But I believe the issue goes much deeper than that. Some folks simply do not take the threat seriously, but they should. Others worry about provoking a widespread public backlash against bio- technology in general that might have a chilling effect on their own legitimate biological research. Still others worry that by calling “unnecessary” attention to the problem, they will paradoxically hasten its development. None of these excuses stands up to close scrutiny. When the National Institutes of Health began work on the Human Genome Project, it set aside 5 percent of all funding to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for a program in the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of the work (ELSI, established in 1990).37 Partly in response, most major universities receiving federal funds now offer biomedical ethics courses for graduate students and postdocs receiving training in molecular biology. These courses cover many timely and important topics, such as scientific misconduct, privacy issues related to DNA and human health, and the ethics of animal cloning. Rarely, however, do they attempt to educate young professionals on ethical issues related to BW. It is high time to offer biomedical ethics training “beyond Dolly.” Biological scientists at all levels need to get involved. To quote Preston:

The community of biologists in the United States has maintained a kind of hand-wringing silence on the ethics of creating bioweapons—a reluctance to talk about it with the public, even a disbelief that it’s happening. Biological weapons are a disgrace to biology. The time has come for top biologists to assert their leadership and speak out, to take responsibility on behalf of their profession for the existence of these weapons and the means of protecting the population against them, just as leading physicists did a generation ago when nuclear weapons came along. Moral pressure costs nothing and can help; silence is unacceptable now.38

Amen! As George Orwell put it, “Life is a race between education and catastrophe.”


Thanks to the JASON Group, and especially to the participants in the 1997 Summer Study described in footnote 1 below, for their contributions to this chapter. Thanks also to Princeton University’s Lynn Enquist (also editor, Journal of Virology) for his insight, encyclopedic knowledge, and patient tutorials in virology. Finally, thanks to Sidney Drell for inspiring me to think hard, for reawakening my latent activism, and for giving me the opportunity to do something about it.

1. This study was held during June and July of 1997. The JASONs are a collection of primarily academic scientists who dedicate a portion of their time to addressing problems of national interest, consulting for various US government agencies. According to their charter (JASON Charter, as amended November 13, 1991, Mitre Corp., McLean, VA):

JASON exists to enable scientists to contribute to the enhancement of national security and to the public benefit by working as individuals or in groups on problems of importance supported by government organizations . . . .

Formed during the Cold War era, the JASON group has been particularly active in confronting the nuclear threat. From the outset, its membership has included prominent scientists with backgrounds mainly in physics and mathematics. With the winddown of the Cold War, however, the composition of the group shifted in keeping with the changing focus, and has grown today to include experts in computer science, electrical engineering, molecular biology, and other fields. In addition to the diversity of science represented by the group, individual JASON members have always been distinguished by their broad, cross-disciplinary interests.

The 1997 Summer Study was carried out by me and the following fourteen individuals: Curtis Callan (Princeton University), J. Mike Cornwall (University of California, Los Angeles), William Dally (Stanford University), Freeman Dyson (Institute for Advanced Study), Norval Fortson (University of Washington), Gerald Joyce (Scripps Research Institute), H. Jeff Kimble (California Institute of Technology), Steven Koonin (California Institute of Technology), Claire Max (Lawrence Livermore National Labs), Thomas Prince (California Institute of Technology), Oscar Rothaus (Cornell University), Roy Schwitters (University of Texas), Peter Weinberger (Renaissance Technology), and W. Hugh Woodin (University of California, Berkeley).

The study group included an MD/PhD as well as a biologist, in addition to one or more physicists, astronomers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers. Many of the same individuals participated that summer in a study of the Human Genome Project (S. E. Koonin, “An Independent Perspective on the Human Genome Project,” 279 Science (1998), pp. 36–37), undertaken on behalf of the Department of Energy.

While assessing work at the forefront of life science, it seemed natural to contemplate at the same time the dangers of what has been termed “black biology.”

In this chapter, I write strictly as an individual, and not in any capacity on behalf of JASON, but it would be inappropriate not to acknowledge their vital role in shaping this presentation.

2. The color figures that accompanied my presentation at the November 16– 18, 1998, Hoover Institution conference on biological and chemical weapons have been rendered in black and white for this chapter.

3. Richard Preston, The Cobra Event (New York: Random House, 1997).

4. Judith Miller and William J. Broad, “Exercise Finds US Unable to Handle Germ War Threat,” New York Times (Apr. 26, 1998), p. 1.

5. Coverage included television network specials on ABC (PrimeTime Live, Feb. and Jul. 1998), TBS (The Coming Plague, Apr. 98), and PBS (Frontline, Oct. 1998), plus a series of articles in the New York Times.

6. 278 Journal of the American Medical Association (no. 5) (Aug. 6, 1997), pp. 347–446. Hoover Press : Drell DP4 HPDREL0102 10-18-:2 11:20:41 rev2 page 41

[...]

37. The US Department of Energy, which also funds work on the Human Genome Project, also sets aside funding for the same purpose.

38. Richard Preston, “Taming the Biological Beast” Op-Ed, New York Times (Apr. 21, 1998).

[Dig]

Pandemics and Bioterrorism: From Realistic Threats to Effective Policies
http://web.mit.edu/professional/short-programs/courses/combating_bioterrorism.html

Participants' Comments

"It was an invigorating experience and a particularly useful investment of my time. The quality of the information was what one would expect from MIT. The availability of the lecturers and the general social tenor of the course were gratifying. Great stuff. Thanks!" - Physician, U.S. Army

"The course was comprehensive, yet focused in areas with relevance and timeliness for modern day issues and concerns. Great learning and exchange opportunity with national colleagues." - Senior Public Health Specialist, The Tauri Group

"For anybody who works in the Security Industry, attending this course is essential in replacing a culture of fear surrounding this subject, with one of rationality and understanding." - Vice President, Concentric Solutions International, formerly UK Scotland Yard/ Special Branch

"Excellent - Great learning experience and an opportunity to share ideas with a diverse group." - Vice President for Health Sciences at West Virginia University

"Knowledgeable and experienced faculty - Very interactive - Multi-disciplinary approach - Students were very also knowledgeable and represented a wide variety of organizations." - Deputy Chief Scientist, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

Recent participants in this course have come from the CIA; the Centers for Disease Control; IBM; Argonne National Lab; city, county and state Public Heath Departments from New York to Oklahoma; the US Army and Air Force; Police and Fire Departments from D.C., Illinois, Arizona and Texas; U.S. Senate staff, Scotland Yard Special Branch, Battelle Institute; the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, MITRE, and the National Security Agency.
Overview

The threat of bioterrorism poses new challenges for governmental agencies that now have the added responsibility to ensure biosecurity. For a bioterrorist attack is both a public heath emergency, and a criminal act whose perpetrators need to be apprehended. And the terrorists involved may or may not be part of an international network. Thus public health, law enforcement and national security agencies all face new priorities, including learning to collaborate with each other.

Implementing these new priorities will require substantial organizational learning and change. But agencies have deeply embedded professional norms and organizational culture, and they are resistant to change even in times of crisis. Each agency responds with its own routines, and its own distinctive view of “the threat,” which dilutes new initiatives and impedes effective collaboration.

The 2001 anthrax letter attacks provide many cases of unresolved organizational issues. The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) brought its own organizational style to investigating the outbreaks. It focused on the pathways of exposure, establishing an index case, and other public health procedures. The FBI though, faced with the same incident, saw a crime scene that needed to be secured, evidence that needed collection by its procedures, and perpetrators who needed to be identified. But the Bureau agents lacked the relevant scientific background. The military had studied anthrax for decades, but much of its information remains cloaked in secrecy and unavailable to other agencies. Thus, while the need for collaboration is great, the potential for differing organizational styles to produce conflict is high.

How then do we get existing agencies to actually change their priorities concerning bioweapons? How do we get them to understand and make use of alternative approaches brought by other agencies? How do we get them to provide accurate information to the public?

Content
  Fundamentals: Core concepts, understandings and tools (10%)
  Latest Developments: Recent advances and future trends (60%)
  Industry Applications: Linking theory and real-world (30%)

Delivery Methods
  Lecture: Delivery of material in a lecture format (50%)
  Discussion or Groupwork: Participatory learning (50%)

Level
  Introductory: Appropriate for a general audience (10%)
  Specialized: Assumes experience in practice area or field (50%)
  Advanced: In-depth explorations at the graduate level (40%)
Topics Covered
Among the specific course topics that will be included are:


Swine flu 2009
How do we define a pandemic? Can we predict the behavior of the new virus? How do severity and spread interact? What would be the rationale for a worldwide immunization campaign? Who should it be targeted for, and where will the resources come from? Who will decide, and when? How will the responses differ from country to country?

Swine flu--lessons for mass immunization 1976
In 1976, the CDC mounted a national immunization campaign against a projected new influenza virus that was feared to be unusually virulent. However, the virus never arrived. Instead 25 people died from unexpected side effects from the vaccine itself. What can we learn from this program about decision making with fragmentary evidence; about probing medical assumptions; and about accurate public communication?

Learning from SARS / Avian Flu
The SARS epidemic and the threat of Avian Flu are striking reminders of how infectious diseases can spread in unexpected ways. What can we learn from these experiences about the problems of disease surveillance, accurate diagnosis, effective treatments, and the detection of novel viruses? How would the SARS outbreak have been different if it had been a deliberate release?

Impediments to Organizational Change: professional norms, organizational routines and culture
Is reorganization an effective response to these issues? Is the Department of Homeland Security part of the solution or part of the problem?

Case Study: the US postal anthrax outbreaks
The 2001 anthrax letters caught all the federal and state agencies off guard. What are the lessons for anthrax detection and treatment; for interagency cooperation; and especially for clear, consistent risk communication to the public?

Rethinking the Public Health Approach
A classical CDC investigation includes defining the scope of the epidemic; looking for environmental sources; and establishing treatment regimens. How should these activities change when both the virulence of the biological agent and its spread may have been intentional?

Case Study: the smallpox immunization program
How can we estimate the risks of an outbreak? How do we model the potential spread? What should be the risk threshold for policymakers evaluating immunizations? Who should bear the medical and financial burdens of the anticipated side effects? Does one public health program divert resources from other priorities?

Expanding the Law Enforcement Approach
The standard FBI and other law enforcement approaches stress careful examination of the crime scene and a search for the perpetrators of the crime. However law officers were not trained in the identification of biological agents, nor in the capabilities needed to make or spread bioagents. How do we expand law enforcement routines to respond to bioterrorism? How do we organize law enforcement and scientific capabilities to work in harness?

Biological Weapons and National Security
Why did governments develop biological weapons? How did their militaries forsee the benefits and costs of battlefield use? Why were the programs so secretive? Why did the major powers never make use of biological weapons? Why the Iraqis did develop them? What is the potential for transfers of expertise and materials to terrorist groups?

Barriers to Bioweapons: the Case of Filoviruses
Filoviruses (marburg- and ebolaviruses) are feared and lethal viruses on an individual level, but they are not very communicable and have never killed more than a few hundred people per outbreak. How realistic is it that aggressors could modify these viruses by genetic engineering to become more effective bioweapons? Are the resources and expertise needed for this within the likely reach of terrorist groups? Or is it all just threat inflation?

The New Focus on Vaccine Development
Many of today's vaccines were first developed and tested in the military. Is this a good model for future efforts? How does the military perception of appropriate vaccine use differ from civilian policymakers? The new national vaccine initiative foresees a major federal role in the development and purchase of the next generation of vaccines. Who should manage this ambitious effort? What should be the roles of public health agencies ad the private sector?
Learning Objectives
Describe impediments to organizational change: professional norms, organizational routines and culture. Appreciate the following case studies: the 2001 U.S. postal anthrax outbreaks; the smallpox immunization program; the 1976 swine flu outbreak. Analyze the public health approach: a classical CDC investigation including defining the scope of the epidemic, looking for environmental sources, and establishing treatment regimens. Investigate expanding the law enforcement approach. Assess biological weapons and national security. Interpret the new focus on vaccine development. Examine learning from the SARS/avian flu.
Who Should Attend

Professionals in public health, law enforcement, and national security, and academics who have responsibilities for containing pandemics or bioterrorism.
About the Program Faculty

All of the faculty have been extensively involved with research and policymaking on public health and national security issues.

Jeanne Guillemin is Senior Advisor at the Security Studies Program at MIT, and Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She is the author of Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak, which examined the Soviet release; and Biological Weapons : From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism (2005). Her current research, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, is on the anthrax postal attacks of September-October 2001. For more information: http://web.mit.edu/ssp/people/guillemin/fellow_guillemin.html

Kendall Hoyt is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, where she studies international biosecurity strategy and biodefense research policy.  Dr. Hoyt is a research associate at the New England Center for Emergency Preparedness. Previously she was a Fellow at the International Security Program  at Harvard University. She has also worked at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and McKinsey and Company. For more information: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~engs13/syllabus/hoyt.kendall.html

Gregory Koblentz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs and Deputy Director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University. Dr. Koblentz is also a Research Fellow with the Security Studies Program at MIT, and a member of the Scientist Working Group on Chemical and Biological Weapons at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington. He previously worked at Georgetown and the Kennedy School at Harvard. He is the author of Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, forthcoming) and co-author of Tracking Nuclear Proliferation (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1998). He has also published articles in International Security, Nonproliferation Review, Arms Control Today, and Jane's Intelligence Review.
For more information, see http://pia.gmu.edu/faculty_staff/bio.php?fname=Gregory&lname=Koblentz&type=full

Jens Kuhn is the Lead Virologist (contractor) at NIAID's new maximum-containment institute, the Integrated Research Facility Frederick. He specializes in highly virulent viral pathogens and recently published "Filoviruses - A Compendium of 40 Years of Epidemiological, Clinical, and Laboratory Studies" (Vienna: Springer, 2008). He has worked at AIDL, CDC, and USAMRIID, and was the first Western scientist to work in the former Soviet biological warfare facility "Vector" in Siberia, Russia, within an international disarmament program.

Anthony Robbins is in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts Medical School. Previously he was state health director in Vermont, and in Colorado; and Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. He is also past President of the American Public Health Association. One of his main public health interests is vaccine research and development, and immunization policy. For more information: http://www.tufts.edu/med/gpph/Faculty/Robbins.htm

Richard Swensen was most recently the Undersecretary for Homeland Security within the Executive Office of Public Safety for the State of Massachusetts, where he coordinated efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism. Swensen previously served with the FBI for 29 years, including as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI offices in Boston and New Orleans.

Sanford L. Weiner is a Research Associate at the Center for International Studies at MIT. He has written about organizational change and innovation in both military and public health agencies, including the CDC's response to emerging diseases. He is now studying priorities for risk assessment and implementation among agencies responsible for biosecurity, including policies for pandemic flu. For more information: http://web.mit.edu/ssp/people/weiner/affil_weiner.html

[Dig]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frameup/message/25564

"Carl Hammond, 37, was a passenger on board the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He also was a physicist for Mitre Corporation, a company that peddles Global Hawk (remote piloting) technology. The strongest case has been made that Global Hawk was employed in electronically hijacking the planes in question regarding September 11. Warren Buffet heads Mitre Corp. as well as Berkshire-Hathaway and NetJets, not to mention BizJets"
 
 
To: Dick Eastman
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:43 AM
Subject: Interesting info...

Hi Dick,
 
  I thought you might be interested in this info on some of the companies involved in this article. I think you are familiar with this person's investigations from way back when...he's posted prolifically on 9/11 in the past. There's also much more on Ptech somewhere in the blog, there's a lot there.
 
JoAnn.
 
 
http://justanotherblowback.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
 
9/11: A Revolution in Military Affairs
The National Reconaissance Office, Mitre Corporation, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and Booz, Allen, & Hamilton
August 8, 2001: Booz, Allen, & Hamilton employee named head of NIMA (National Imagery and Mapping Agency - now the National Geophysical Intelligence Agency)

From Biographies: Federal Government: Civilian and Military (link no longer works)

James R. Clapper named Director of National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet jointly announced the appointment of James R. Clapper Jr. as the new director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) on August 8, 2001. Clapper, who will become the first civilian head of the agency, succeeds Army Lt. Gen. James C. King who has headed NIMA since March 1998 and will be retiring from the Army later this year. Clapper was chosen for the position owing to his grasp of intelligence matters and his knowledge of the needs of NIMA's principal users, the combat commanders. The director has more than 37 years experience in intelligence, working at all levels and phases of the field. He retired from the Air Force in September 1995 as a lieutenant general after a four-year tour as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Since his retirement, he has served success ively as executive vice president of Vredenburg, a systems acquisition services company headquartered in Reston, Va.; executive director, military intelligence for Booz, Allen & Hamilton, McLean, Va.; and recently as vice president, director of intelligence programs for SRA, International, Fairfax, Va. He was a senior member of the Downing Assessment Task Force, which investigated the terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers in June 1996. NIMA, established in October 1996, is responsible for the collection of imagery through the use of both national and commercial assets. It advises others responsible for collecting imagery using theater and tactical reconnaissance assets. NIMA produces timely imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information in support of the nation's military forces, policymakers, and civil customers.

From 911 Review:
On September 19th, 2000, Govexec.com describes a "never before seen" level of cooperation between the FBI, the CIA, and the Pentagon, that is expected to be involved in "Project Trailblazer"," an initiative to develop a 21st-century "signals intelligence" system that can crack new encryption software, hard-to-tap fiber-optic cables, and cellular phone transmissions" and able "to fight terrorism", referring already to Bin Laden and his"millennium plot" ("Y2K terrorist operation").



In 2001, the Trailblazer program was developed under the order of the NRO, with sub contractor Booz Allen Hamilton and took partly place in the wing of the Pentagon, which was later officially hit by "Flight77".

Booz is a high rank "member" of military and intelligence. They're also Corporate Member of the National Military Intelligence Association.
On August 8, 2001, two days after Bush received a new PDB with a clear warning on Bin Laden; Booz, Allen, & Hamilton employee named James R. Clapper as head of NIMA (the National Imagery and Mapping Agency - the 'eyes of America').
Clapper, leads this project for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), which at the same time not only develops new satellite capabilities (A NRO payload launched into space on September 8, 2001), but also worked on a terror drill for Sep11th (9 AM), crashing planes into the headquarters, as later confirmed by NRO Officer John Fulton.
When BoozAllen started to work for the NRO, it was well known, that they also had been a client of Blessed Relief, the charity said to be a front for Osama Bin Laden. However, this seemed to be not a problem for the NRO.

On September 11th, BoozAllen Hamilton lost 3 employees in the Pentagon : Gerald Fisher, Terence Lynch, and Ernest Willcher. They apparently worked for the government on Trailblazer 1 (which included also another sub cover project, called "Soldier Benefits Tool").

In the same building, Scott Powell and Edmond Young, working for BTG Inc, died on the same day. In April 2001 BTG aquired RPI, which was working on exercises to respond to possible chemical or biological terrorist attacks.

Only 9 days after Sep11th, it was reason enough that BTG announced to be aquired by Titan Corporation.



It was also Titan, who provided their disinfection systems to Post Offices in October 2001, after anthrax was discovered in mailings to members of Congress and journalists.

But the Titan Connection with the department of the Pentagon, which was working on Trailblazer was older than September 2001.

Another "original NSA-plan" for "Trailblazer" was from 2 April 2001, then described as a "program to develop analytic capabilities to meet the challenge of rapidly evolving, modern telecommunications", prime contracts were awarded to Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc. , Lockheed Martin Corporation and TRW.

Trailblazer was much more than just an advanced "spy and satellite program". Already in September 2000, SpaceNewsFeed revealed, that Trailblazer is part of the "Trans Orbital Lunar GPS Experiment".



TransOrbital's private, robotic 2001 TrailBlazer's prime mission is to return HDTV video from lunar orbit for use as commercial products. The privately held company is conducting the 2001 TrailBlazer Project as a for-profit Space Venture and will produce various video and other products.

As announced, the "2001 TrailBlazer spacecraft will not rely upon GPS data for its navigation at the moon, but instead will use established means of navigation".

It is not clear, how long before Sep 2001, Titan Corporation was connected with Trailblazer, but one public document mentioned them in March 2001. Probably Titan was back and forth involved with many other sub contractors they used, to keep in strong touch with the program.
On June 14th, 2001, Logicon TASC, a Northrop Grumman company, has won a $75 million contract with the Pentagon.

But already two months earlier, in March 2001, Logicon TASC announced it had won another "five-year, $57 million contract" (possibly the same) "with a U.S. intelligence agency to provide systems engineering and technical assistance (SETA) support for Trailblazer".
The Logicon TASC team included a long list of sub contractors, among them Veridian, e-voting specialist Electronic Data Systems Corp, SRS Technologies and Titan Systems Corp.

By now, it appears odd, that this high tech spy team around Booz, the NRO and the Pentagon, was not able to protect themselves on Sep11th. Neither an early evacuation was arranged or the "observation" of the "hijacked planes" had been recognised in time.

 

One of another Trailblazer partner, TRW and their subsidiary, Peter Peterson's Blackstone Group, had similar "problems". In October 2000, they obtained the mortgage of WTC 7, a building which then turned into a military complex, with offices on the 23rd floor by the CIA and DoD.

However, the CIA wasn't able to protect the building on Sep11th. More odd, the complete building collapsed at 5:25 PM on that day under yet unexplained reasons. NIST, asked by INN World Report in February 2004 in New York, answered, they would look into these circumstances.



The NSA originally selected one of the Pentagon's top Private Military Contractrors, SAIC-led Digital Network Intelligence (DNI) Enterprise team that includes Northrop Grumman Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., The Boeing Company , Computer Sciences Corporation (later owner of DynCorp) and SAIC wholly-owned subsidiary Telcordia Technologies to contribute to the modernization of the NSA's signals intelligence capabilities.

In October 2002, SAIC officially announced the contract award from the National Security Agency (NSA) to be the provider of the technology demonstration platform (TDP) phase of the TRAILBLAZER program. At that time, it wasn't well known for the public, that the Program was already developed since 2 years.

The myth, the Pentagon was victim of incompetence and negligence on Sep11th, does still circulate around.



Since Mid 2002, Booz Allen Hamilton (also another specialist of anti-terror drills) has ex-CIA and PNAC member James Woolsey as one of their directors, the other is Dale Watson (ex-FBIHQ), who was recently accused by many different people as part of the 9/11 Cover-up: ex-FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds or Richard Clarke but also, less implicating ex-FBI Thomas Pickard.


Titan profits enormously from their NSA connection. In November 2002, the NSA selected Titan as prime contractor "for the Enterprise Architecture and Decision Support (EADS) program having a potential value of $533 million over a 24-month base period and five options."



Meanwhile, the Trailblazer program developed into another experimental and mysterious level. In May 2004, The MITRE Corporation, working together with the DMSO (Defense Modeling and Simulation Office), describes it now as "simulations to support a specific example experiment. The example experiment was modeled on a J-6-sponsored LIVEX that was planned and conducted in parallel, and largely independently of the "Trailblazer" effort."
What follow are snips from previous research of mine:
[...]

Carl Hammond, 37, was a passenger on board the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He also was a physicist for Mitre Corporation, a company that peddles Global Hawk (remote piloting) technology. The strongest case has been made that Global Hawk was employed in electronically hijacking the planes in question regarding September 11. Warren Buffet heads Mitre Corp. as well as Berkshire-Hathaway and NetJets, not to mention BizJets.

[...]

The NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) demonstrated its new satellite capabilities (NRO payload launched into space on September 8, 2001) and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA - "the eyes of America") gained a new director one month prior to that fateful day. Considering all of this, one gets a pretty clear picture of where all those 'Star Wars' dollars went. James R. Clapper is the man named to head NIMA and he comes from Booz, Allen, & Hamilton which is a client for Blessed Relief, the charity said to be a front for Osama Bin Laden.

[...]

Someone wrote me: "I noticed some times ago that the company Booz had lost 3 employees in the Pentagon : Gerald Fisher, Terence Lynch, and Ernest Willcher. They had apparently to work for the government on Trailblazer 1, a system required to spy communications..

"Scott Powell and Edmond Young, members of BTG Inc, died in Pentagon too. RPI, acquired by BTG Inc in april 2001, awarded $11.2 Million Contract by Department of Justice : under the contract, RPI will support exercises to help prepare state and lo cal officials to respond to possible chemical or biological terrorist attacks... They did the job so good that BTG Inc was acquired by Titan Corp on september 20, 2001, a probable coincidence.."

The following snip was taken from a Google search a few years ago (Mitre has since removed it from their website and when they did, so called 9/11 researchers began to demand proof that Buffet had evern been associated with Mitre - can you say damage control?):
MITRE Globetrotter in Omaha, Nebraska... United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM for short) Headquarters on Offutt AirForce Base ... Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the country (next to Bill ... www.mitre.org/news/gt/omaha/omahaltr.shtml - 12k - Cached - Similar pages
The following is snipped from Xymphora:
A number (it hasn't been reported exactly how many but it was called 'a small group of business leaders') of CEO's from New York, including at least one from the WTC, were attending a breakfast meeting at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska on the morning of September 11, guests of Warren Buffett (isn't he the same guy who has guaranteed that the United States will suffer a nuclear attack by terrorists?). Offutt Air Force Base is the base that Bush flew to on September 11, supposedly becau se it is the headquarters of the E-4B, the aircraft which is the "command, control and communications center to direct U.S. forces, execute emergency war orders and coordinate actions by civil authorities". He wanted to be on the scene in person, particularly as there was fear that the terrorists were in possession of the secret codes by which they could electronically impersonate Bush in giving military commands (interesting how we have heard nothing more of that story). So how much of a coincidence is it that this meeting with Warren Buffett was at the same air force base that Bush flew to (apparently Bush intended to fly directly to Offutt, but had to stop for refuelling in Louisiana)? Is it possible that Buffett's invitation to a bunch of 'important' New York City executives for a breakfast meeting at an air force base in Nebraska (just think about how weird that is!) was an attempt to save the lives of the invitees?
The following is sni pped from http://www.mitre.org/ (it may no longer be there plus - one warning: Mitre helped to develop the internet and makes software for the IRS so visit their site at your own risk):
MITRE is a not-for-profit national resource that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the government. It operates federally funded research and development centers for the DOD, the FAA, and the IRS, with principal locations in Bedford, Massachusetts, and Northern Virginia.
[...]
MITRE is supporting DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate (program agent) on the Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE). The AMSTE program is developing technologies to affordably engage moving surface targets such as tanks, tactical ballistic missile transporters, and small boats from long ranges and in all weather conditions.
[...]
MITRE is experimenting with the integration of advanced Internet technologies into the ISR sensor ground station. The ISR Information Service (ISRIS) Mission Oriented Investigation and Experimentation (MOIE) will develop a prototype information portal that provides ISR sensor data and ground station service accessibility to the battlespace internets: the Intelinks, the Air Force Joint Battl espace Infosphere (JBI), the Navy Network Centric Warfare, and the Army First Digital Division. In FY01, the project will demonstrate the ISRIS concept using the Global Hawk UAV platform. Global Hawk is an excellent platform for this pathfinding research since it has no established TPED support systems today, and it's multiple sensor data types Electro-Optic (EO), Infra-Red (IR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) make it an especially rich information source.
Pathfinding research they say? Sounds oddly like traiblazing (i.e. Trailblazer).
The following is snipped from Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Technology:
After September eleventh, UCAV technology took a big step. Although not confirmed by the Pentagon, it is reported that an RQ-1 Predator spy plane equipped with hellfire missiles flew over Afghanistan and conducted the first successful remote-controlled bombing raids in history (Bowmaster). The operators remained safely on the ground out of harms way.
[...]
Boeing, with backing from DARPA, is on the cutting edge with the development of the X-45, which is scheduled for flight test in early 2002. With an estimated range of 500 to 1,000 miles and a payload of 1,000 to 3,000 pounds, Boeing intends to increase effectiveness and survivability of manned combat aircraft by sending their UCAV in first to clear out radar, antiaircraft sights, and surface to air missile (SAM) sights. With two prototypes already complete, they are moving forward with their vision of air combat tomorrow.

Realize of course, that to leak anything but where we were at ten or more years ago with these technologies would be a violation of national security and probably prosecutable.

A snip from a site that no longer exists:
Houston Associates, Inc., located in most large Federal government engineering centers, is a leading edge engineering technologies company, that has been involved with a wide variety of DoD Information Technologies requirements for more than 15 years. HAI has provided outstanding engineering capabilities and transitional development services to a wide range of clients.

Among our Federal client base are DARPA, DISA, DIA, DSWA, USAF, US Army, several CINCs, and Federal Agencies. Each is supported with engineering capabilities from Network (MAN&WAN), ATM requirements (Red and Black systems), Mission Control Support Element Engineering Services employing leading edge Information Technologies for the UAV-Predator, UAV-Global Hawk, and other relate systems. HAI supports and is under contract to provide engineering services to the NASA Manned Space Flight Program at Marshall and Johnson Space Flight Centers. HAI is also doing network site work at Birk Test Center, Edward AFB, California. Our commercial client base included Raytheon, Sprint, Lockheed Space, an Lockheed SkunkWorks, to name a few.

The following is snipped from 2600, a hacking publication:
"Despite the U.S. spending millions to defend satellites from its own high-powered laser weapons, many of these computers in orbit still obey commands without authenticating their source."

Remember, US space stations experienced disruption of their satellite communications on that day. SOMEONE had access to highly sensitive frequencies of transmission.

"The devastating terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, New York and the Pentagon have shocked and horrified us all. The attacks also caused disruption for satellite and space companies across the USA." [SOURCE]

[Dig]

Is MITRE planning on releaseing aerosol anthrax from chemtrail planes? Only one lab in the world has weaponized anthrax, Fort Detrick. Was that the reason that the investigation ended and all patsies were executed? Why do they need aerosol detection systems if only one place in the world can produce the stuff?

Universal Detection Technology
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Universal-Detection-Technology-Invited-Present-Its-BSM-2000-Anthrax-Detection-Technology-FRANKFURT-PO8-853005.htm
May 06, 2008 16:00 ET

Universal Detection Technology Invited to Present Its BSM-2000 Anthrax Detection Technology at the IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security

The Conference Is Held With Technical Assistance From the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - May 6, 2008) - Universal Detection Technology (www.udetection.com) (OTCBB: UDTT) (FRANKFURT: PO8), a developer of early-warning monitoring technologies to protect people from bioterrorism and other infectious health threats and provider of counter-terrorism consulting and training services, announced today that it will present the technology for its BSM-2000 airborne anthrax monitor in a poster session at the IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security. The conference is being held at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts on May 12-13.

With Technical Assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, the eighth annual 2008 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security (HST 08) focuses on novel and innovative technologies addressing pressing national security problems. The Conference brings together over 300 innovators from leading universities, research laboratories, Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, small businesses, system integrators and the end user community to discuss emerging technologies in priority areas of interest to federal and state governments, and fosters technology commercialization by providing a forum for networking with government and business leaders. For more information on the conference please visit http://ieeehomelandsecurityconference.org.

"The IEEE conference is a great opportunity to present our technology to industry leaders in Homeland Security," said Mr. Jacques Tizabi, UDTT's Chief Executive Officer. "We also look forward to meeting with representatives from the DHS present at the conference such as Dr. Thomas Celluci whose task is to facilitate cooperation between government and private industry," he added.

Other companies presenting at the IEEE conference include:

    -- Raytheon
    -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
    -- Bioport Corporation
    -- Northrop Grumman
    -- MITRE Corporation
    -- IN-Q-TEL

For more information please visit our website at www.udetection.com or

Email us at info@udetection.com.

About Universal Detection Technology

Universal Detection Technology is a developer of monitoring technologies, including bioterrorism detection devices. The Company on its own and with development partners is positioned to capitalize on opportunities related to Homeland Security. For example, the Company, in cooperation with NASA, has developed a bio-terror 'smoke' detector that detects certain biohazard substances. For more information, please visit http://www.udetection.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance and achievement in the future to differ materially from forecasted results, performance, and achievement. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in the Company's plans or expectations.

[Dig]

18 Months ago, officials had to admit that Fort Detrick is a manufacturing plant for false flag chemical and biological warfare. Basically anonymous shart dressed intelligence officials are able to breach any security to grab weapons of mass destruction to be used for false flag attacks. It seems to be a fundraising system like a bake sale for high school students. They perform the false flags using these pathogens from Fort Detrick and then that gives them the funding they need for more Nazi genocide research and development of race based/DNA based biological and chemical warfare. Proof seems to be fairly obvious, in 18 months, the only person they tried to link to this situation was assassinated in jail. In the past 18 months, there has been a monumental lack of any investigation whatsoever. MITRE/Booz Allen/CFR/ANSER are not allowing any investigation.

Ebola, Anthrax among missing vials in new Inventory done at Ft. Detrick

Fort Detrick's Inventory Uncovers 9,200 More Pathogens
Inventory Uncovers 9,200 More Pathogens

Laboratory Says Security Is Tighter, but Earlier Count Missed Dangerous Vials

http://whatreallyhappened.com/ru/content/ebola-anthrax-among-missing-vials-new-inventory-done-ft-detrick
By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 18, 2009

An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing. After four months of searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been included in a database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's deputy commander. The vials contained some dangerous pathogens, among them the Ebola virus, anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the bacterium that causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer drawers, hadn't been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum samples from hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War. Kortepeter likened the inventory to cleaning out the attic and said he knew of no plans for an investigation into how the vials had been left out of the database. "The vast majority of these samples were working stock that were accumulated over decades," he said, left there by scientists who had retired or left the institute. "I can't say that nothing did [leave the lab], but I can say that we think it's extremely unlikely," Kortepeter said. Still, the overstock and the previous inaccuracy of the database raised the possibility that someone could have taken a sample outside the lab with no way for officials to know something was missing. "Nine thousand, two hundred undocumented samples is an extraordinarily serious breach," said Richard H. Ebright, a professor at Rutgers University who follows biosecurity. "A small number would be a concern; 9,200 . . . at an institution that has been the focus of intense scrutiny on this issue, that's deeply worrisome. Unacceptable." The institute has been under pressure to tighten security in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17. FBI investigators say they think the anthrax strain used in the attacks originated at the Army lab, and its prime suspect, Bruce E. Ivins, researched anthrax there. Ivins committed suicide last year during an investigation into his activities. Kortepeter noted that since 2001 the lab has imposed multiple layers of security to check people entering and leaving, that there are now cameras in the labs, and that employees are subjected to a reliability program and random inspections. "The bottom line is, we have a lot of buffers to prevent anybody who shouldn't be getting into the laboratory," Kortepeter said. Sam Edwin, the institute's inventory control officer, said most of the samples found were vials with tiny amounts of pathogens that would thaw quickly and die once they were taken out of a freezer, making smuggling something off the base difficult. The probe began in February, when a problem accounting for Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus triggered the suspension of most research at the lab. A spot check in January found 20 samples of the virus in a box of vials instead of the 16 listed in the institute's database. Most work was stopped until the institute could take a thorough inventory of its stock of viruses and bacteria. Edwin said about 50 percent of the samples that had been found were destroyed. The rest were added to the catalog. Because the lab will now conduct an inventory every year, "it's really less likely that we will be in a situation like this again," he said. Procedures have changed, too. Scientists who have worked at the lab said that in the past, departing scientists turned over their logbooks to their successors, but records were sometimes incomplete or complex. As generations of scientists passed through, the knowledge of what was in the freezers was lost. With a comprehensive database, every sample is now tracked until it is destroyed or transferred. But some scientists are skeptical. Unlike uranium or chemical weapons, pathogens are living materials that can replicate and die. A small amount can easily be turned into a large amount. They said the strict inventories slow their work without guaranteeing security.

[ekimdrachir]

alright!! i knew it was a good idea to fight the oil spill by spraying an evil MORE dangerous substance to tear apart the crude oil into tiny particulates, lets hope this gas of peace evaporates all over the planet! that will fix everything.

[citizenx]

Warren Buffet heads MITRE?  Holy shnikes!

That guys is into it up to his eyeballs then.  Damn.

Explains his connections to the Air Force now clearly.

[citizenx]

Weather radar shows something unusual around time birds fell
 Amanda Terrebonne     1 day ago

 
A weather radar screen doesn't just show the weather, apparently. The National Weather Service in North Little Rock examined a speck on the radar that showed up around the same time all the birds fell out of the sky from alleged trauma on New Year's Eve.


 
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A weather radar screen doesn't just show the weather, apparently. The National Weather Service in North Little Rock examined a speck on the radar that showed up around the same time hundreds of birds fell out of the sky from alleged trauma on New Year's Eve.

Today's THV reporter Lauren Clark talked to Science and Operations Officer Chris Buonanno at the NWS who says that the speck on the picture is definitely not precipitation.

"There are some indications that we're picking up a non-precipitation target. It has some similarities to say, like a collection of birds."

continued:

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=137071&provider=top

Not hail.

[Dig]

Warren Buffet heads MITRE?  Holy shnikes!

That guys is into it up to his eyeballs then.  Damn.

Explains his connections to the Air Force now clearly.

i need a confirmation on that one. i read it too, but it needs supporting evidence.