“Biointelligence and biosurveillance provide the early warning systems necessary to detect the spread of disease, whether natural or intentional,” said Langevin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology. “To date, these systems have not yet been adequately developed, although progress is being made.  The Biosurveillance Enhancement Act will build upon past efforts to provide us with a truly effective biosurveillance capability.”
 

The National Biosurveillance Integration Center Act of 2007 will enhance the capability of the federal government to rapidly identify, characterize and localize a biological event by integrating and analyzing data from human health, animal, plant, food, and environmental monitoring systems into a single comprehensive network.  The NBIC will also serve as a centralized system for consolidating data from biological surveillance systems and would identify and characterize biological events in as close to real-time as possible.
 

“Situational awareness and early detection can mean the difference between an outbreak and an epidemic, or between a foiled and a successful biological attack,” continued Langevin. “A strong biosurveillance capability will help protect our citizens and will enable us to more effectively respond to the worst-case scenarios.”  

Under this bill, the NBIC must be operational by September 30, 2008.  This bill also authorizes annual appropriations for the NBIC, but does not specify an amount.

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