-Caveat Lector-
‘Doomsday antidotes’ tailed pope
Secret chemical-biological antidote ‘cache’ now deployed at all major events
By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER
NEW YORK, Jan. 27 — When Pope John Paul II and President Clinton converged on
St. Louis this week, the U.S. Secret Service dispatched the usual high-level
protective teams to guard against terrorism or assassination attempts. But
now, U.S. officials tell NBC News that the security details for such
high-profile events have a new component in tune with more dangerous times: a
cache of chemical and germ warfare antidotes that travels around the country
as needed.
A PALLET of shrink-wrapped pharmaceuticals and intravenous equipment was
shipped to St. Louis for Pope John Paul II’s visit this week and was stored
near the Capitol during Clinton’s State of the Union address on Jan. 19, U.S.
officials said.
The “pharmaceutical cache,” the existence of which has not been
announced publicly, includes thousands of doses that can be used to treat
victims of chemical or biological attacks. Officials stressed that the caches,
controlled by the Veterans Administration, were dispatched to St. Louis and
other previous events purely as a precautionary measure and not because of any
intelligence indicating an attack was imminent or planned.
NEW AREA OF CONCERN
Still, the existence of the cache indicates the new priority being
given to countering the use of chemical or biological agents since the attack
on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995. The sarin gas attack by the Aum
Shinri Kyo cult killed 13 people.
The pharmaceuticals are mainly antidotes like atrophine and tupan,
better known as Valium, for exposure to chemical weapons, and “post-exposure”
pharmaceuticals like penicillin and doxocycline, for biological weapons.
The veterans agency also sends other drugs to treat people who might
suffer heart attacks or asthma attacks that might result from a terrorist
attack.
VOLUNTEER TEAMS
The drugs would be administered by a U.S. Public Health Service team —
called a national medical response team — made up of doctors and nurses who
volunteer for the job. The doctors are trained mainly in responding to
chemical weapons and the pharmaceuticals are mainly directed toward countering
chemical weapons, primarily because symptoms of a biological attack likely
would take hours to surface. Chemical attack symptoms strike immediately.
PREVIOUS DEPLOYMENTS
There are 2,000 to 3,000 doses sent to the location of each special
event. A cache was sent to the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the G-8 summit in
Denver and presidential inauguration in Washington in 1997, the World Energy
Congress in Houston in 1998 and the papal visit this year. The president’s
State of the Union has been covered since 1997.
The pharmaceuticals are sent to a medical facility, mostly VA
hospitals, close to the special event.
Sometimes, however, they are stashed even closer. For example, at the
State of Union address this year, the cache was sent to the Hubert Humphrey
building — the headquarters for the Department of Health and Human Services —
across the street from the House chamber, where the president spoke.
There are four caches and they are stored at four VA facilities: in
Washington, Los Angeles, Denver and Winston-Salem, NC.
Originally, the caches were transported in government trucks, but
recently they have been sent via Federal Express. Fedex was more efficient,
said one official, because the government trucks were “old and had problems
[meeting deadlines].”
The caches are signed for on both ends by the Veterans Administration,
said an official, and Fedex is informed of their contents.
Robert Windrem is an NBC News investigative producer based in New York.
=================================
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