A new report from a national group, Trust for America's Health, says South Carolina scores a 6 out of 10 in bioterrorism preparedness. It's one of 20 states to receive a 6. Two-thirds of all the states scored a 6 or lower.

North Carolina and Florida got the highest scores, a 9 out of 10. Alaska and Massachusetts were lowest at 3.

The reasons for the low score for South Carolina?

SC cut its public health budget between fiscal year 2003 and 2004.

SC has not achieved "green" status for the Strategic National Stockpile, which means the state is not adequately prepared to distribute vaccines and antidotes in an emergency.

The state doesn't have sufficient bioterrorism lab response capabilities and doesn't have enough lab scientists available to run tests in the event of an outbreak.

But the people in charge of the state's preparedness dispute the numbers and conclusions in the report.

Robert Stewart, chief of the State Law Enforcement Division and director of the state's homeland security efforts, says he hasn't been able to find anyone who was contacted to get information for the report. He says Trust for America's Health apparently gathered its information only on the Internet.

And he says the state does have sufficient lab response.

"We have a new mobile laboratory here, paid for with federal funds, to handle the forensics side of a chemical or biological event, should one occur," he says. "And it is equipped and we have trained scientists here that are on our staff in the laboratory for other reasons, but are especially trained also, even Ph.Ds, that are specially trained to do this type work."

He says SLED has a weapons of mass destruction response team ready to respond, and the National Guard also has a civil support team available at any time to respond to an emergency.

Thom Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, also disputes the conclusion that the state doesn't have enough scientists and lab capabilities.

"We've actually increased the number of people that we have operating at our Bureau of Labs here in Columbia," he says. "We also have a BSL (Biohazard Safety Level) Level 3 laboratory and have had for some time. So we're a little curious as to their methodology and where they came up with these numbers." 

As for the state being unprepared to distribute vaccine or antidote in an emergency, Berry says, "While we may not have a substantial amount on hand at any one point in time right here in Columbia or somewhere else within the state, we have the capability to bring in as much as we need literally on a moment's notice."

The entire report is available at http://www.healthyamericans.org/.