Recognizing the national need for resilience against multiple natural hazards, the National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated a new chapter in hazards research with a $40-million investment in Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). This will allow researchers to explore and test groundbreaking concepts to protect homes, businesses, and infrastructure lifelines.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing enhancements to the oversight of hazardous waste shipments to help ensure safe management of imported and exported hazardous wastes. The rule proposes consolidation of the regulations so that one set of protective requirements will apply to transboundary movements of hazardous waste.
A clot-busting drug that already has been approved for use in treating strokes and heart attacks could find a new use as a lifesaving treatment for inhaled sulfur mustard under a development contract between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the University of Colorado - Pediatric Airway Research Center.
Thanks to a newly updated standard for ambulance design based on research and development (R&D) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and two federal partners, emergency runs should soon be much safer for paramedics and other first responders.
Four novel products to treat severe thermal burns will be developed and acquired under contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The products are intended to enhance the available treatment options for disaster response and are being designed to find uses in routine clinical burn care.
With BARDA support, the University of Hertfordshire will undertake a new series of studies to facilitate a fully optimized, generic, and standardized response to chemical incidents by U.S. first responders. The project is part of a broader federal effort to develop medical products and procedures to protect health and save lives in a terrorist attack.
An internationally recognized food protection organization announced that it has changed its name from the National Center for Food Protection and Defense to the Food Protection and Defense Institute. The Institute is based on the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota and is focused on ways to mitigate threats to the food system from intentional contamination.
A novel Ebola virus disease treatment based on three monoclonal antibodies will advance in development through an agreement between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Tarrytown, New York.
Increasing development near forest boundaries mean more than 46 million homes and more than 70,000 communities are at risk from wildfire in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds farmers and ranchers affected by the recent wildfires that USDA has programs to assist with their recovery efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and HOPE Coalition America (HCA), the emergency preparedness and financial recovery division of Operation HOPE, signed a memorandum of agreement renewing their 11-year collaboration to promote financial preparedness and support for recovery after emergencies and disasters.
