Recent polls suggest that, like its musical namesake, bacterial anthrax remains unpopular - despite repeatedly showing up in the news over the last decade or so, unlike its musical namesake. Perhaps they just have a bad publicist.
Our government, keenly aware of this lack of public appeal, naturally places a high value on keeping anthrax and
campaign donors voters far apart.
But there's
anthrax, and then there's biological weapons. Anthrax is a naturally occurring germ, and it's not spread by handshakes or sneezing or dirty toilet seats, you generally have to inhale the spores deeply for it to pose a life-threatening risk.
And partly because of this, it's notoriously hard to "weaponize" - to convert a tank of bacteria solution from a lab into a sort of powder which can withstand being fired at a target, and remain infectious after being dispersed into the air, is far from easy.
Your average terrorist is a busy person who, like most of us, is not over-endowed with advanced microbiology degrees. So they usually opt for simpler ways of making their point, and in this the news media is a reliable and enthusiastic partner (but that's a story for another article).
Regardless, the government has of course spent umpty-billions on security since
September 11 roughly autumn of 2001 (if I mention the actual date in print, I have to send Mayor Giuliani $20), and this includes some
$334 million forked over by both the Bush and Obama administrations on something called
raxibacumab.
If that sounds like a hell of a lot of "Raxi", it's probably worth mentioning that it rings up somewhere north of
$5,000 per dose.
Raxi is the first product of a company known as
Human Genome Sciences Inc, and the U.S. Government is the only customer for Raxi.
HGS Inc. was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline last year for some $3.6 billion, a pricetag which I hope included a free unicorn pony for all employees and box seats to ragnarok. I mention this because GlaxoSmithKline has appeared before
in this blog for their canny financial sensibilities when it comes to investing in human misery futures. They clearly see strong growth ahead for HGS!
There are a number of inexpensive and widely available treatments for anthrax, from ordinary antibiotics to vaccines. But Raxi is an anti-toxin, which means it goes after the actual poison the bacteria pumps into your body, rather than trying to stop the bug itself.
This makes it potentially a vital defense asset against a weapon made with antibiotic-resistant anthrax (yay!) if such a thing existed (whuuut?)
The government has good reason to fear an attack using a drug-resistant anthrax weapon. Even though experts point out that the mutations required to make the bug resist antibiotics, while straightforward enough to create, also make it much weaker - less lethal, and less stable.
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Conflict of Interest /ˈkɒnflɪkt əv ˈɪntrəst/
(noun) - see Danzig, Richard |
The government has good reason to fear such a weapon because famous biology expert Dr. Richard Danzig has for years told them
it's really easy to make!
Oh wait, Richard Danzig isn't a famous biologist, or even a doctor... he's a lawyer. Also an adviser on biowarfare to the Department of Homeland Security, and a snappy dresser to boot.
You'd think a busy guy like that wouldn't have much time for hobbies, but it turns out he also had a side gig for 10 years as the director of - care to guess? - yes,
Human Genome Sciences, Inc.
Of course, he is well aware of the possible appearance of a conflict of interest, here, possibly because he sees posters for it with his face on them daily. Which is why the ivy-league-educated lawyer is very careful about what he says. As he points out,
"If I have occasion to comment on this, it ought to be in general, as a policy matter, not as a particular procurement."
In other words, scare the wits out of the government all you like about the risks of being thrown into a briar patch, but if you mention that you also own the only anti-briar technology in the country, that would be wrong. Just let them Google that up for themselves.
The respected
scientist lawyer has stated repeatedly that this is a serious risk. In fact, he does so using words which skim so exquisitely close to the truth, without being in any way relevant, that it's actually kind of... mesmerizing:
"Development of an antibiotic-resistant strain... is quite easy," Mr. Danzig says. "Even at the high school level, biology students understand that an antibiotic-resistant strain can be developed."
Bow your heads, gentle reader, for once again we're in the presence of weapons-grade blarney.
True enough,
any idiot a student can grasp how growing a bug in a weak solution of antibiotics can encourage the development of a strain which tends to resist that antibiotic.
But what Danzig says is far more
profitable provocative, as it implies (without explicitly saying) that this same student can master the advanced genetics and biochemical wizardry required to turn that into a weapon - something which grown-up people with the resources of whole nations behind them have failed to do for decades!
Which brings us to another eloquent quote from someone close to the matter - specifically Philip Russell, a biodefense official in the Bush administration and former Army major general. Also, an actual doctor. When informed of Danzig's dayjob, he
responded:
"Holy smoke, that was a horrible conflict of interest"...
Horrible maybe, but it was also a 7-figure
bribe payday Danzig
skimmed earned while
prevaricating making us all safer - or would you rather we face terrorism without any antitoxin? Or at least, as Danzig emphasizes,
"the president and his staff, members of Congress, key members of the military" could benefit.
Credit where it's due: here is a man who knows
bullshit his target market.
And lest you fear that Glaxo's multibillion-dollar investment may prove unwise, Raxi's shelf life is only about 3 years - so we're due for another dose pretty soon... better
drop your pants and bend over wipe down that checkbook!
Anyone for some doom? Leave a comment below (no suspicious envelopes though, please!)
