Bush Budget Beefs Up Bio-Surveillance Programs

New budget asks for $274 million to combat bioterrorism threat.

President Bushs new budget asks for $274 million to bolster a series of programs aimed at combating the threat of bioterrorism, administration officials said Thursday. Part of the new money will beef up the year-old BioWatch program, an interagency effort among DHS, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control, said DHS Secretary Tom Ridge. That program has been operating in 30 cities and monitors data collected by more than 4,000 atmospheric sampling stations that act as an early warning system for any airborne pathogens.

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