02.15.10
Infection Spreads: Bioterror Defense Funding & Perception of Influence Peddling
“BigGovernment.com and other news outlets are reporting that PharmAthene, closely tied to late Congressman John Murtha and DHS Under Secretary Tara O’Toole, has seen millions of dollars added to a 2003 contract without competing for it,” read the lede of a piece at BioPrepWatch on Friday.
“O’Toole, who once advised the Alliance for Biosecurity (believed to be run by PharmAthene), is now in a position to steer business to PharmAthene at the expense of taxpayers,” it concluded.
And like terrorist-caused infection that national threat assessment always likes to warn about, the perception of influence peddling in this part of the bioterror defense research industry has inexorably spread.
Because of it, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Biosecurity quietly divorced itself from its old lobbying group, the Alliance for Biosecurity last year, shortly after O’Toole’s confirmation at DHS.
The divorce were not posted on the Center’s website, however, until January 14.
News of the post was first advanced to Armchair Generalist who graciously showed it to DD.
And it was written about here in January.
“I am writing to let you know that the Center for Biosecurity at UPMC has resigned its membership in the Alliance for Biosecurity,” wrote Thomas Inglesby, its director.
“The Alliance has established itself as a substantive credible stakeholder working in the nation’s best interests on complex and challenging biosecurity policy and technical issues,” he continued.
“Unfortunately, there was an effort to undermine these contributions in the last few months,” alluding to the news that won’t go away.
The impression of taint and cozy dealing in the small part of the biodefense industry represented by the Center for Biosecurity and the Alliance for Biosecurity has persisted and exacted a cost. It appears the bad odor won’t go away just yet.
