116 STAT. 614 PUBLIC LAW 107-188-JUNE 12, 2002 SEC. 124. SECURITY FOR COUNTERMEASURE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION. Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by section 110 of this Act, is simended by inserting after section 319J the following section: 42 USC 247d-7d. " SEC. 319K. SECURITY FOR COUNTERMEASURE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION. "(a) IN GENERAL.— The Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, may provide technical or other assistance to provide security to persons or facilities that conduct development, production, distribution, or storage of priority countermeasures (as defined in section 319F(h)(4)). "(b) GUIDELINES. —The Secretary may develop guidelines to enable entities eligible to receive assistance under subsection (a) to secure their facilities against potential terrorist attack.". SEC. 125. ACCELERATED COUNTERMEASURE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. Section 319F(h) of the Public Health Service Act, as redesig- 42 USC 247d-6. nated by section 104(a)(2) of this Act, is amended to read as follows: "(h) ACCELERATED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON PRIORITY PATHOGENS AND COUNTERMEASURES.— "(1) IN GENERAL.— With respect to pathogens of potential use in a bioterrorist attack, and other agents that may cause a public health emergency, the Secretsiry, taking into consideration any recommendations of the working group under subsection (a), shall conduct, and award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements for, research, investigations, experiments, demonstrations, and studies in the health sciences relating to— "(A) the epidemiology and pathogenesis of such pathogens; "(B) the sequencing of the genomes, or other DNA analysis, or other comparative sinalysis, of priority pathogens (as determined by the Director of the National Institutes of Health in consultation with the working group established in subsection (a)), in collaboration and coordination with the activities of the Department of Defense and the Joint G«nome Institute of the Department of Energy; "(C) the development of priority countermeasures; and "(D) other relevant areas of research; with consideration given to the needs of children and other vulnerable populations. "(2) PRIORITY.— The Secretary shall give priority under this section to the funding of research and other studies related to priority countermeasures. " (3) ROLE OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—In cari rying out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider using ^ the biomedical research and development capabilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in conjunction with that Department's affiliations with health-professions universities. When advantageous to the Government in furtherance of the purposes of such paragraph, the Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to achieve such purposes.
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