Are Labs Prepared?
Probably not, according to a report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, which cited “inadequate public health infrastructure” to respond to biological and chemical terrorist attacks. “Underprepared” was the description used in congressional testimony by both Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Even before the fall 2001 attacks, the public health system had been working to improve its capability to cope with potential terrorist attacks, and that effort has now been put on the fast track. Congress has approved billions of dollars in anti-terrorism appropriations, more than a billion of which has been earmarked to help states upgrade their public health infrastructure, including some $100 million to expand and improve a program called the Laboratory Response Network.