Sylvester Turner: “I hope that we are successful with this legislation, and I hope that the desired result can be accomplished. But I also…”

“I hope that we are successful with this legislation, and I hope that the desired result can be accomplished. But I also want to end with a caution that the ability of our enemies in the years ahead to develop, alter, and modify biological pathogens will be at a level unknown to us today. I urge all of us to commit ourselves to the task of developing the agility and the responsiveness that we need to address those threats that we inevitably will face in the future. The Washington Post today spoke in an editorial entitled ``New Bugs'' that it is important for us to shorten the time frame from the identification of a dangerous pathogen to the development of a drug or antidote.”