HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

257

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

OPPOSING THE IMPORTATION OF ANTHRAX BACTERIA FOR BIOTECH RESEARCH PURPOSES.

 

WHEREAS, since the tragedies of September 11, 2001, the United States has been on increased alert for further acts of terrorism on American soil; and

WHEREAS, several months after the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon building outside Washington, DC, anthrax-laced letters were delivered to the offices of two United States Senators on Capitol Hill, evacuating Senate staff and closing contaminated buildings for weeks; and

WHEREAS, two thousand postal workers at two facilities processing mail to Washington, DC, were tested and treated for possible exposure, and twenty-eight Capitol Hill staff were exposed to anthrax; and

WHEREAS, in addition to Washington, DC, the ramifications of the anthrax-laced letters affected New York, New Jersey, Florida, and even Brazil; and

WHEREAS, since these events, a surge in biotech research has occurred in the hopes of finding preventative solutions and treatment for such deadly bacteria that can be used in acts of bioterrorism; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii Biotech received a $5.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health with the goal of developing a drug to inhibit the lethal toxin secreted by anthrax bacteria; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii Biotech also received in May 2003, a $4.4 million award from the Department of Defense which will pay for research into bioterrorism agents; and

WHEREAS, while biotech research results in invaluable scientific contributions to society, the particular research project awarded to Hawaii Biotech would require the importing of anthrax into the State; and

WHEREAS, a person can be exposed to the anthrax bacteria through physical contact by touching an anthrax-contaminated letter or other object, or through inhaling anthrax spores circulating in the air of an anthrax-contaminated room; and

WHEREAS, the presence of anthrax could not only lead to bioterror, but also human "bioerror" in biotech laboratories conducting the research; and

WHEREAS, the already enormous military concentration in Hawaii and the further addition of the Stryker Brigade and other military forces, weapons, and facilities could increase the likelihood that Hawaii will become a target of terrorists or a rogue nation; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature strongly opposes the importation of the anthrax bacteria for biotech research purposes and urges against such actions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the United States Secretary of Defense, the Director of the National Institutes for Health, the Adjutant General, the Dean of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, and the President of Hawaii Biotech.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Biotech research; Anthrax bacteria.