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21/04/2004
UK needs national terror response centre, says Royal Society
A new national technology centre must be established if the UK is to deal more effectively with a chemical or biological attack, a leading UK science academy has said.
In its report, ‘Making the UK safer: detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents’, the Royal Society said that a national centre would address fully the challenges facing the UK in detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents.
The society said that the UK has world-class expertise in academia, industry and the military, but the government must organise and coordinate efforts more effectively. The initial cost of the centre is estimated at £20 million per year.
Professer Herbert Huppert, chair of the Royal Society working group that produced the report, said that more realistic exercises involving "genuine members of the public" were needed to test the authorities' response to an incident.
Professor Huppert said: “We envisage this centre becoming a one-stop-shop for anyone wanting to know more about detection and decontamination of these agents. This would mean that emergency service personnel, local and national emergency planners and government departments and agencies would know immediately whom to contact for advice in the event of an incident and when maximising preparedness in advance.”
Among the issues that needed clarification, said Professor Huppert, were how to definitively establish what constitutes a safe environment to return to after a site is affected.
"Acceptable levels of contamination must be agreed in order to minimise potential for further risk to human health and allow normal life to resume," he said.
(gmcg)
In its report, ‘Making the UK safer: detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents’, the Royal Society said that a national centre would address fully the challenges facing the UK in detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents.
The society said that the UK has world-class expertise in academia, industry and the military, but the government must organise and coordinate efforts more effectively. The initial cost of the centre is estimated at £20 million per year.
Professer Herbert Huppert, chair of the Royal Society working group that produced the report, said that more realistic exercises involving "genuine members of the public" were needed to test the authorities' response to an incident.
Professor Huppert said: “We envisage this centre becoming a one-stop-shop for anyone wanting to know more about detection and decontamination of these agents. This would mean that emergency service personnel, local and national emergency planners and government departments and agencies would know immediately whom to contact for advice in the event of an incident and when maximising preparedness in advance.”
Among the issues that needed clarification, said Professor Huppert, were how to definitively establish what constitutes a safe environment to return to after a site is affected.
"Acceptable levels of contamination must be agreed in order to minimise potential for further risk to human health and allow normal life to resume," he said.
(gmcg)
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