[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1560 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1560

To strengthen United States capabilities in environmental detection and 
                  the monitoring of biological agents.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 17, 2001

   Mr. Akaka introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To strengthen United States capabilities in environmental detection and 
                  the monitoring of biological agents.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Biological Agent-Environmental 
Detection Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The threat of bioterrorism depends on the ability to 
        produce and distribute biological agents that cause illness or 
        death. A bioterrorism attack, once executed, requires 
        containment and treatment that relies on primary-care provider 
        capabilities as well as information and communication 
        infrastructure.
            (2) Early detection of a biological threat will minimize 
        the number of people exposed to the agent and the extent that 
        the agent or disease will spread.
            (3) Preventative measures that consider production, 
        processing and distribution of biological or chemical agents 
        could significantly reduce the threat of bioterrorism.
            (4) New tools capable of detecting small quantities of 
        infectious agents in food, water, air, and other vectors are 
        needed, as well as a library of the genomic signatures of 
        unique agents.

SEC. 3. NOVEL DETECTION AND SURVEILLANCE TOOLS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in 
conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, the 
Director of the National Science Foundation, the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency, and representatives from industry, 
shall form an interagency research task force to encourage non-
duplicative, public-private research relating to environmental 
monitoring and detection tools with respect to biological agents.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to be used 
in accordance with the advice and recommendations of the task force 
established under subsection (a)--
            (1) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may 
        be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year, for the purpose 
        of encouraging cooperative agreements between the Federal 
        Government and industry or academic laboratory centers, as well 
        as encouraging research into improving methods of detecting 
        common pathogens and to test new detection technologies under 
        variable conditions;
            (2) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may 
        be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year, for the purpose 
        of pursuing new technologies, approaches and programs to 
        identify clandestine laboratory locations;
            (3) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may 
        be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year, for the purpose 
        of investigating and developing technologies to identify 
        possible biological or chemical attacks using atmospheric 
        remote detection technologies; and
            (4) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may 
        be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year, for the purpose 
        of establishing a means of testing, verifying and calibrating 
        new detection and surveillance tools and techniques developed 
        by the private sector.
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