Erika Check,WashingtonThe US Department of Homeland Security(DHS) is running a $1.5-million pro-gramme to evaluate hand-held kits used byemergency workers to test for biologicalhazards in possible terrorism situations.

The programme is the latest of severalmajor federal efforts to evaluate the kits overthe past two years. The kits are used by firstresponders — workers who are first on thescene in any emergency — who need todetermine quickly whether a suspicious sub-stance contains a pathogen such as anthrax.The programme will set operating standardsand test which devices meet them.

Such kits are controversial, and battlesover their use illustrate the technical challenges and difficulties in coordinating federal agencies that the US governmentfaces as it tightens homeland security.

The government first focused on the kitsin late 2001, after a terrorist mailed anthrax

spores around the country. These high-profile attacks were followed by tens ofthousands of ‘powder calls’ — most of whichwere false alarms. To distinguish fake callsfrom real ones quickly, emergency workersbegan using hand-held detectors. But federalofficials were unsure about the accuracy ofthe devices, so the FBI and the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention in Atlanta,Georgia,both ran tests on them.

The results alarmed the US government’sscience advisers. On 19 July 2002, John Marburger,head of the White House Office ofScience and Technology Policy (OSTP),announced in a memorandum that commer-cial hand-held detectors were plagued bytechnical problems and advised first respon-ders and government officials not to use them.Marburger said the kits were prone to deliver-ing false positive results, which could result incostly and frightening quarantines and cityshut-downs.

This announcement angered some emer-gency workers,who say they know the limita-tions of the kits and combine them withother techniques to rule out false positives.They also say that the government’s advice— that first responders rely only on labora-tory tests — is not practical.

“The hand-helds can rule out a lot ofthings so,potentially,we do not have to quar-antine people on a train for 72 hours whilewe wait for an answer,” says John Eversole,chair of the International Association of FireChiefs’Committee on Hazardous Materials.

The manufacturers of the devices werealso upset, because they say the first evalua-tion of hand-held kits took place behindclosed doors,without their input.

Last year, the DHS and the OSTP begannew evaluations. They set up a committee tooversee the tests under the auspices of theAssociation of Analytical Communities,based in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The com-mittee comprises academics, governmentofficials and industry representatives.

But controversy remains as manufactur-ers are worried that the tests will be biased by the OSTP’s earlier conclusions and say thegovernment is out of touch with everydaysituations faced by first responders.“There issignificant tension between the guy in thefield and the bureaucracy,” notes WilliamNelson, chief executive of Tetracore, abiotech company in Gaithersburg.

And scientists testing the devices remainconcerned.“This product is too limited,”saysVincent Vilker, head of the biotechnologydivision at the National Institute of Stan-dards and Technology, which is one of theagencies evaluating the results of the tests.

But with first responders clamouring forhelp, DHS and OSTP officials say they mustprovide guidance soon — at least until betterkits come along. The new evaluations areexpected to be available later this year. ■

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454 NATURE | VOL 428 | 1 APRIL 2004 | www.nature.com/nature

Bioterror tester kits trouble federal agencies

Rebelling scientists welcome left’s landslide in FranceDeclan Butler,ParisFrench researchers protesting against thegovernment over deep cuts to sciencefunding emerged strengthened after lastweekend’s regional elections, which saw theruling conservatives wiped off the map by aleft-wing alliance.

The Socialist party, with their Green andCommunist allies, took 50% of the vote — ascore not seen since François Mitterrand’spresidential victory in 1981. The Union pourun Mouvement Populaire, the party createdby President Jacques Chirac in 2002 to unitethe right, took 37% leaving it with only

Alsace; previously, the party held 14 ofFrance’s 22 regions.

Mass demonstrations by researchers in therun up to the election contributed to the voteagainst Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.The revolt hit a public nerve, symbolizingwhat was wrong with the administration.

“The unprecedented protests byresearchers played a significant part in theresults of the elections, something never seenin recent history,” says Vincent Courtillot, ageophysicist at the Paris GeophysicalInstitute, on the Jussieu campus in Paris.Courtillot should know. He was principal

adviser to the minister for national educationand research Claude Allègre who, following asmaller scientists’ uprising in 2000, wassimply sacked (see Nature 404, 421; 2000).

Courtillot is now optimistic aboutprogress. Never before have researchers beenso united on the shape of needed reforms, hepoints out (see Nature 428, 105; 2004).“A significant fraction of requests stand abetter chance of being heard now,” he says.

Chirac is expected to hold on to Raffarin,at least until June elections to the EuropeanParliament, but to implement a thoroughgovernment reshuffle. ■

Test cases: emergency workers say they need kits to make faster checks for dangerous pathogens.

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© 2004 Nature Publishing Group

© 2004 Nature Publishing Group