http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/15897516.htm
Feds offer bio-terror air alarm in Pines BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH [EMAIL PROTECTED] The federal government wants to place a device that detects anthrax and other deadly germs at a Pembroke Pines fire station. The device is part of BioWatch -- an effort to collect air samples from dozens of cities around the country to detect biological agents. The system is part of a national program run by the Department of Homeland Security. Critics, including outside experts and a senior Republican congressman, have questioned the program's cost and effectiveness. The BioWatch sensors have been deployed in more than 30 urban areas, at a cost of $79 million this year, said Christopher Kelly, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. The idea is that early detection could help the government bring medicines and other resources to the affected areas quickly. The new device would not cost Pembroke Pines anything, officials said. City commissioners are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to accept the offer. The devices have been installed at locations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties for the past three and a half years, said Ken Larson, who manages the air monitoring program for the Broward County Environmental Protection Department. Since then, Homeland Security decided to add more monitoring sites, Larson said. The Pembroke Pines location was selected by a computer model that picks geographic coordinates where the federal government would like additional coverage, Larson said. ''There are a number of cities involved,'' Larson said. ``It has nothing to do with a particular city; it has to do with fact that we live in a large metropolitan area.'' Kelly would not say what cities have BioWatch, citing ``security reasons.'' The filters monitor the air 24 hours a day, and are collected daily and taken to labs that are part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Laboratory Response Network, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The results are provided within 12 to 36 hours, Kelly said. The equipment and the monitoring is funded through a federal grant. Over a 15-month period, the project cost $376,960 in Broward County, according to EPA documents. The Homeland Security Department implemented the program in major urban areas in 2003. Luciana Borio, a senior associate at the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh, said many of the details about the BioWatch system have been kept secret. ''Whether they're useful, I don't know,'' Borio said. ``Whether it's cost effective, I doubt it. It's a tremendous amount of investment. There was a huge rush to implement it. It hasn't really been proven.'' Some in Congress have questioned the BioWatch program. Over the summer, Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., called the program ''nuts'' and said it was not a good use of Homeland Security dollars. ''We're really not going to have any solutions to these things until we get some sensors that respond immediately and through satellites give a signal immediately,'' said Linder, chairman of Homeland Security Subcommittee on Prevention of Biological and Nuclear Attack. Department of Homeland Security information on the device does not specify what biological agents they can detect. ''One thing we know, it's assumed it's set up to detect things like smallpox and anthrax,'' Borio said. Since the program started in Broward and Miami-Dade, ''we have not had any positive samples come out at all that I am aware of,'' Larson said. McClatchy correspondent Greg Gordon contributed to this report. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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