The NSC Alliance has joined the American Institute of Biological Sciences and 16 other scientific societies and organizations in sending a joint letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) providing input on her forthcoming legislation, the One Health Security Act.
The One Health Security Act aims to create a mechanism to enhance interagency coordination, streamline funding, and strengthen our early warning and detection networks to rapidly respond to emerging biological threats. Senator Gillibrand’s office is currently accepting comments on the discussion draft of the bill, with plans to re-introduce the measure in the next Congress.
The joint letter urges that the bill be expanded to include biodiversity infrastructure (e.g., biorepositories, associated digital assets, expertise, field stations, and our vast natural resource agencies) as a critical component of our national research infrastructure for pathogen prediction, surveillance, and mitigation. The letter accompanies a set of proposed edits to the bill text.
Read the full letter and proposed text edits.