January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

WASHINGTON: The US government said on Wednesday it is rolling out an early warning system to detect any biological attack against big cities, but experts questioned how well it would actually protect people.

Many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 3,000 air quality monitoring stations, now sampling for pollution, would be updated to also check for bacteria or viruses, the White House said.

The government has been investigating the idea of germ detectors for years, and routinely uses chemical detectors. —Reuters