Fixing one impediment to biodefense

A year after anthrax attacks on Congress and the media highlighted the nation's vulnerability to bioterrorism, the U.S. government has done little to enlist the biotech industry in efforts to develop biowar countermeasures and therapies. Legislation creating a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS), given final passage by the Senate last week, doesn't create the incentives needed to stimulate biopharmaceutical companies to develop such products, but it does take steps to remove one of the biggest impediments: the fear of virtually unlimited liability.

The legislation gives the Secretary of DHS the authority to designate specific products as "anti-terrorism technologies." Sellers of designated anti-terrorism products will have the right to be treated as government contractors, a status that shifts much of the liability to the federal government. "This presumption of the government contractor defense shall apply regardless of whether the claim against the Seller arises from a sale of the product to Federal Government or non-Federal Government customers," the law states. ...