CIDRAP - Before adjourning last week, the US Senate passed and sent to President Bush a bill providing $3.8 billion for pandemic influenza preparedness and a controversial liability shield for those who produce and administer drugs and vaccines used in a declared public health emergency.

Washington Post - An editorial that asks a pertinent question that desperately needs to be answered: "Even today, it still is unclear who in the government -- the White House, the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services -- is really in charge of defense against bioterrorism."

Chicago Tribune - Russia's reluctance to allow the United States access to nuclear and biological weapons sites severely hinders efforts to secure weapons-grade nuclear material and biological pathogens from terrorists and rogue states, according to a new report released by NATO.

Christian Science Monitor - A measure to shield drug manufacturers from lawsuits in an effort to encourage them to develop new vaccines is likely to be quietly attached to a "must pass" defense appropriation bill within the next few days.

Boston Globe - Boston public health authorities will propose today sweeping new safety regulations governing more than 1,000 research laboratories working with dangerous germs in universities, hospitals, and biotechnology companies across the city.

The proposed rules emerge 10 months after public disclosure that three Boston University scientists had fallen ill while working with tularemia, a lethal bacterium. City health authorities acknowledged yesterday that the proposal is a direct response to the tularemia exposures, as well as long-festering concerns from neighbors about the development of a high-security lab at BU where scientists would be capable of working with some of the world's deadliest germs.