May 21, 2004, Hour One: Funding for Anti-Terror Drugs / Obesity Update / The Developing Brain

Science Friday > Archives > 2004 > May > May 21, 2004:
Hour One: Funding for Anti-Terror Drugs / Obesity Update / The Developing Brain

This week, the Senate voted 99-0 to approve a bill authorizing funding for companies developing drugs and vaccines against bioterror agents. The program, dubbed 'Project BioShield,' would receive over $5.6 billion dollars over the next decade to attempt to provide incentives for research into anti-terror drugs, as well as provide a guaranteed market for their sale. We'll talk about the legislation, and what it might mean for both public and private researchers.

Plus, we'll check in with participants in a conference on obesity being held this week. The organizers call the meeting the 'Action on Obesity Summit ', and are collecting ideas for ways to fight obesity on a local level through all stages of human life.

Finally, we'll talk about imaging the brain's development. In a study reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers took MRI images of the brains of a group of children over a period of 15 years. We'll talk about what the studies may tell us about how the brain develops throughout childhood. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern), and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).

Guests:

Frank Gottron
Science and Technology Policy Analyst, Resources, Science, & Industry Division
Congressional Research Service
Washington, DC

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Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Editor-in-Chief, "The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook" and "Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight"
Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and of Nutrition
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota

Lester Crawford
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Chair, FDA Obesity Working Group
Rockville, Maryland

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Judith Rapoport, M.D.
Chief, Child Psychiatry Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland

This segment produced by Karin Vergoth and Erica Altman

Archived Audio:
anti-terror drugs
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obesity
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developing brain
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streaming audio help from NPR

Related Links:

President Details Project BioShield Project BioShield ' to prepare America for bioterror OK'd AAMC : Project Bioshield Imaging Study Shows Brain Maturing Neuroscience for Kids - Brain Development Stress and the Developing Brain
MedlinePlus: Obesity Overweight and Obesity Overweight and Obesity , Virtual Office of the Surgeon General Understanding Adult Obesity

Books/Articles Discussed:

(find books discussed on previous broadcasts)