ASA Newsbreak Service
ASA NewsBreak #121, News Notes: West Nile virus,Positive Side of the News, Pine Bluff Arsenal
Date sent by e-mail: 10 June 2000
Date posted on ASA website: 11 August 2000
ASA Subscribers,
The following news items of interest are forwarded for your information.
News Notes:
1. West Nile virus (US). Dead crows in Bergen County, New Jersey
and Rockland County, New York have very recently been confirmed
to have the WN virus. A Hawk that died earlier this year in
Connecticut was also confirmed to have been carrying the WN
virus.
Birds are not the source of West Nile virus, but rather, serve as
its
reservoir, after being bitten by an infected mosquito. The
Northern House
Mosquito, _Culex pipiens_, is the species most closely associated
with
transmission of West Nile virus. Crows are particularly
susceptible to the virus, and the vast majority of infected crows
die. For that reason, they are considered to be an important
early warning sign that infection could be present in a specific
area.
This is an early warning for all of us on the East Coast US to be
a little more cautious as we get into the mosquito season.
2. On the Positive Side of the News. NATO Secretary General
George Robertson recently said that Croatia's admittance to the
NATO Partnership for Peace (PFP) is some of the best news of the
21st Century. He further said that Croatia's becoming the 26th
member of the PFP will greatly improve the stability of the
region. Our congratulations to Croatia who will host for our next
(the seventh) CBMTS meeting. This Symposium CBMTS-Industry II
"The First World Congress on Chemical and Biological
Terrorism" will be held in Dubrovnik from 26-31 April 2001.
3. Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, US. On May 31, the House Armed
Services Committee asked the Army to study the feasibility of
destroying nonstockpile chemical munitions along with stockpiled
chemical weapons. The directive was in a report by committee
Chairman Floyd Spence, R-S.C., which was attached to the national
defense authorization bill for fiscal 2001. If this proposal is
deemed feasible, it could delay destruction of chemical weapons
at the Pine Bluff Arsenal incinerator by years and drive up the
cost considerably, officials have said. This has to do with the
differing mix of weapons which would cause modifications to the
incinerator now under construction as well as environmental
regulations which would cause a resubmittal for air and waste
permits.
Nonstockpile munitions are chemical warfare materials from
locations across the US. These items range from chemical agent
detection kits to World War I-era chemical weapons. Nonstockpile
weapons are stored in two locations: Pine Bluff Arsenal and
Tooele Army Depot in Utah.