Senator Tom Harkin will met this afternoon with elected officials, fire fighters, cops and public health workers from Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Mason City to talk about how prepared they are to combat bioterrorism.
Harkin today is proposing a seven-point plan to combat bioterrorism that begins with better training for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
In addition to better training for health care workers, Harkin wants more food safety inspections, as the F-D-A currently inspects just one percent of imported foods. Harkin proposes boost vaccine stockpiles, too. He says the current stockpiles for things such as smallpox are inadequate.
Harkin says there should be around-the-clock disease control investigators in every state, just like at the Iowa Hygienic Lab in Iowa City. And he says all potentially dangerous biological pathogens should be tracked down and cataloged. He says they have to be treated like they treat nuclear material. Harkin says the anthrax that’s in Iowa should not cause worry as all the labs are secure.
Harkin will be in D-C and conference with the Iowans via a video link over the Iowa Communications Network, starting at one o’clock.
Senator Harkin says some of the provisions in an anti-terrorism bill go overboard and violate privacy rights. The bill, which is sought by the Justice Department, would allow secret searches of a suspect’s home and greatly expanded powers to wiretap phones and computers.
Harkin says if Congress throws the Constitution and the Bill of Rights out the window, then the terrorists have won. The bill is set for debate today in the Senate.