Op-Ed on Bioterrorism by John Mekalanos, Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, as heard on Public Radio's Marketplace, Oct 11, 2001. Note: Listen to either a 2.8 MB MP3 file or a 33 MB WAV file

Text of broadcast

MARKETPLACE INTRODUCTION

"From Los Angeles, this is Marketplace. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge has been on the job for four days now as the Head of the Office for Homeland Security. But with the third person in Florida having tested positive for Anthrax, and given the potential threats still facing us, John Mekalanos, Chairman of Harvard Medical School's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, says President Bush should do more than worry about conventional defense."

COMBATING BIOLOGICAL THREATS FROM MAN AND NATURE

"An office of Homeland Defense is a wise move right now, and let's continue to be smart about national defense. The President should consider the appointment of a 'Biological Warfare Czar' whose primary responsibility will be to oversee every line of defense against biological attack. This individual would coordinate and facilitate the activities of the myriad governmental and private agencies that are responding to this formidable threat. Besides efforts to prevent such an attack, the Biological Warfare chief should focus attention and new resources on the delivery of critical new vaccines and therapeutics which will be needed prior to, and certainly after a successful attack.

"As frightening as Biological Warfare is to us all, it is important to recognize that our efforts to combat it can be seen as just another battle in the larger war against infectious disease. Nature threatens us every day with enemies that come in many forms -- a virulent bacterium contaminating beef, a deadly rodent or bird virus, a multidrug-resistant pathogen. For the most part, the frontlines of this battle have remained distant from our shores, yet we know assaults on our homeland from emerging microbes are coming. Their origin will be entirely natural, and their spread to the U.S. will take full advantage of modern modes of travel, new human activities, and increased population density.

"Our nation already allocates significant funding to the war on infectious disease. With a budget of nearly $2 billion dollars per year, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease has made an enormous impact. An equally impressive investment on the part of our pharmaceutical industry has also paid off.

"To tackle these new threats though, we need to do more, and we need government and industry in partnership. Perhaps we need a new large scale 'Bio-Manhattan Project,' like the Second World War undertaking that unlocked the secrets of the atom. Such a project should draw on our deep academic research base and our innovative medical community. We also need to offer drug companies meaningful new incentives to encourage their R&D investment in critical areas. These could be tax breaks, or new focussed grants, or milestone payments to supplement revenues from crucial products with limited commercial appeal. Let's hope management and shareholders alike will learn to worry less about the delivery of double digit returns on investment through new Viagras, and value more the critical defenses that their companies are providing in the biological war we face.

"This may sound like unpalatable medicine, that will demand more government spending as well as more private investment. But the pay-off will be better protection against both biological terrorism and naturally occurring infections - closely related dangers that can and should be fought simultaneously.

"From WGBH in Boston, I'm John Mekalanos for Marketplace."