Anna Eshoo: “I'm pleased to support the Project Bioshield Act which encourages the development of new countermeasures to deal with…”

“I'm pleased to support the Project Bioshield Act which encourages the development of new countermeasures to deal with diseases and conditions caused by bioterrorism attacks. It authorizes $5.6 billion over 10 years for purchasing countermeasures, such as vaccines and treatments, to bioterrorist attacks. The bill also allows the government, in the event of a national emergency involving a bioterrorism or similar attack, to distribute to the public certain drugs and treatments that have not yet been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The Project Bioshield Act is an important part of our mission to secure and protect our homeland and hometowns. The threat of chemical, biological and radiological attacks is too great and this bill provides necessary regulatory flexibility to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services so they can speed and promote research and development of needed countermeasures. The September 11th tragedies and subsequent anthrax attacks made the Nation aware that the public health system is ill-prepared to manage a large scale emergency.”