For Immediate Release:
Friday, October 28, 2005

WASHINGTON D.C - U.S. Representative Dan Boren announced he has been appointed to the Non-Traditional Mission and Catastrophic Disasters Gap Panel – a panel now evaluating the Avian Flu (Bird Flu) threat.  Comprised of House Armed Services Committee members, gap panels are created to assess threats to national security and review U.S. military readiness to address those threats. The panel will then make recommendations on how to fill those “gaps.” 

 

Boren’s panel will focus on pandemics and bio-terrorism, natural disasters, and weapons of mass destruction.  The group will meet three to four times a week for three weeks.  “The Bird Flu poses a potential global crisis, we need to begin preparing for this threat now,” Boren said. 

 

“If the Bird Flu reaches the U.S., first responders and possibly military personnel will be on the frontline.  We need to know what their capabilities are and make sure they are prepared to handle this crisis,” Boren explained.    

 

Bird Flu is an aggressive flu illness sweeping Southeast Asia and has recently been identified in the Balkans along migratory bird routes.  Currently, the virus is spread only through animal-to- human contact, but experts worry that it could mutate into a deadly human-to-human strain.       

 

Boren is concerned about the threat Bird Flu poses to rural America if an outbreak hits the U.S.  “Rural areas could be particularly vulnerable because of limited access to specialized healthcare,” Boren said. “As Congress and the Administration begin putting together a national response plan for Avian Flu and other pandemics, it’s critical that we address the specific challenges that rural America presents,” Boren said.  Boren also wants the panel to recommend mass production of a Bird Flu vaccine.

 

The panel will hear from several qualified experts before making recommendations to the full House Armed Services Committee about U.S. military readiness to pandemic threats.  

 

Experts who have appeared before the panel include: Dr. William Winkenwerder, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs; Lt. General George Peach Taylor Jr., Air Force Surgeon General; Col. George Korch, Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases; Dr. Tara O’Toole, Director of the Center for Biosecurity; Ellen Embrey, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health Protection and Readiness; and, Col. John D. Grabenstein, Director of the Military Vaccine Agency. 

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