Sunshine Project

The Sunshine Project was an international NGO dedicated to upholding prohibitions against biological warfare and, particularly, to preventing military abuse of biotechnology. It was directed by Edward Hammond.

With offices in Austin, Texas, and Hamburg, Germany, the Sunshine Project worked by exposing research on biological and chemical weapons. Typically, it accessed documents under the Freedom of Information Act and other open records laws, publishing reports and encouraging action to reduce the risk of biological warfare. It tracked the construction of high containment laboratory facilities and the dual-use activities of the U.S. biodefense program. Another focus was on documenting government-sponsored research and development of incapacitating "non-lethal" weapons, such as the chemical used by Russia to end the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002. The Sunshine Project was also active in meetings of the Biological Weapons Convention, the main international treaty prohibiting biological warfare.

An announcement was posted on The Sunshine Project website, "As of 1 February 2008, the Sunshine Project is suspending its operations", due to a lack of funding. Its website remained online for some time after this date and could be used as an archive of its activities and publications from 2000 through 2008. However, as of October 2013 the Sunshine Project website was offline. The domain for the website was then reappropriated by a Thai reforestation volunteer organization until September 2023. It now redirects to the internet pornography website, 33porn.

Biological weapons safety

The Sunshine Project Biosafety Bites (v.2) #14 6 June 2006

External links

[1] The Sun Sets on the Sunshine Project

United States biological defense program

Organizations

Federal
administrative

DHS	DHS Chemical and Biological Defense Division DHS Office of Health Affairs (National Biosurvelliance Integration Center, BioWatch) National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility National Bioforensic Analysis Center
DNI	National Counterproliferation Center (Advisory Committee on Bioterrorism)
DHHS	Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Division of Select Agents and Toxins (CDC) National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity
DoD	Assistant SECDEF for NCB Defense Programs Defense Threat Reduction Agency Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System Joint Program Executive Office of Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) National Center for Medical Intelligence

Federal
research

Trans- departmental	National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (National Interagency Biodefense Campus, Fort Detrick) Integrated National Biodefense Medical Countermeasures Portfolio (DHHS/DoD)
Military	U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Edgewood Chemical Biological Center Dugway Proving Ground
Civilian	Galveston National Laboratory (UTMB/NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (HHS/NIAID) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (HHS) Homeland Security Research Program (EPA/DHS) Plum Island Animal Disease Center (USDA) Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit (USDA)

Response

Local	Local Health Departments
State	State Health Departments Nebraska Biocontainment Patient Care Unit
Federal	National Medical Response Team/National Pharmacy Response Team (NDMS, HHS) Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (USMC) Epidemic Intelligence Service (CDC) Aeromedical Biological Containment System (CDC) Bioterror Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory (CDC)

Non-
governmental

Academic centers
and think tanks

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (formerly Center for Biosecurity)
Henry L. Stimson Center
Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment
Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens (Brown University)
Middle-Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
Center for Biodefense Immune Modeling (University of Rochester)
Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies
National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID; George Mason Univ.)

Government
contractors

Programs
and projects

Threat reduction	Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, implemented the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Biological Threat Reduction (DoD) plus Project Bacchus Project Clear Vision Project Jefferson
Biosurveillance	National Biosurveillance Strategy Laboratory Response Network (CDC) BioWatch (EPA, CDC) Global Bio-Surveillance Technology Initiative (GBTI), Bio-Surveillance Management Office (BMO) (part of JPEO-CBD) ESSENCE (DoD) RODS (Civilian)
Biosecurity/Biosurety	Select Agent Program (CDC) Personnel Reliability Program (DoD)
Medical intelligence	National Intelligence Assessments on Infectious Diseases
Disaster response	National Response Framework of the National Strategy for Homeland Security (DHS; including NIMS and ICS) National Disaster Medical System (DHHS) Strategic National Stockpile (CDC, DHS)

Technology
and equipment

Protection	MOPP NBC suit Respirators
Detection	Cell CANARY Biological Materials MASINT Autonomous Pathogen Detection System Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS)
Biocontainment	Biosafety level Biosafety cabinet Positive pressure personnel suit

Law

Treaties	Geneva Protocol (1925, 1975) Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs (1969) Biological Weapons Convention (1972)
Legislation	Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991 Executive Order 13139 (1999) Patriot Act (2001) Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act (2002) Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002 Project Bioshield Act (2004) Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (2005) Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (2006) Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013

Treaties

Geneva Protocol (1925, 1975)
Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs (1969)
Biological Weapons Convention (1972)

Legislation

Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989
Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991
Executive Order 13139 (1999)
Patriot Act (2001)
Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act (2002)
Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002
Project Bioshield Act (2004)
Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (2005)
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (2006)
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013

International
representation

History

Past biological incidents	1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack 1989 California medfly attack 2001 anthrax attacks Wood Green ricin plot (2002) 2003 ricin letters 2013 ricin letters
Defunct organizations and programs	United States Army Medical Unit United States biological weapons program Sunshine Project Aeromedical Isolation Team (DoD)