The Real BioWeapons Threat

Lab Accidents, Not Evildoers, Are The Real Bioweapons Threat

By Brandon Keim
July 09, 2007 9:53:37 AM
Wired

Dangerous, unreported infections that caused the CDC to shut down biodefense research at Texas A&M were only the tip of the iceberg, warns the Sunshine Project.

The Project is one of a few activist groups that track US biodefense research -- an endeavor that, says Project founder Ed Hammond, now employs some 20,000 researchers. That's ten times more than before 9/11.

Having so many new researchers working with pathogens riskier than any they've ever handled -- and in many cases doing so without adequate institutional oversight -- could be a recipe for disaster. For years, some scientists and public health experts have warned that biodefense research accidents are a greater threat than bioterrorists.

Hammond's investigations uncovered the infections of Texas A&M scientists with brucellosis and Q fever -- and that's just the beginning:

In mid-2003, a University of New Mexico (UNM) researcher was jabbed with an anthrax-laden needle. The following year, another UNM researcher experienced a needle stick with an unidentifed (redacted) pathogenic agent that had been genetically engineered;

At the Medical University of Ohio, in late 2004 a researcher was infected with Valley Fever (C. immitis), a BSL-3 biological weapons agent. The following summer (2005), a serious lab accident occurred that resulted in exposure of one or more workers to an aerosol of the same agent;

In mid-2005, a lab worker at the University of Chicago punctured his or her skin with an infected instrument bearing a BSL-3 select agent. It was likely a needle contaminated with either anthrax or plague;

In October and November of 2005, the University of California at Berkeley received dozens of samples of what it thought was a relatively harmless organism. In fact, the samples contained Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, classified as a BSL-3 bioweapons agents because of its transmission by aerosol. As a result, the samples were handled without adequate safety precautions, until the mistake was discovered. Unlike nearby Oakland Children's Hospital, which previously experienced an anthrax mixup, UC Berkeley never told the community.

Texas A&M Bioweapons Infections More the Norm than the Exception [Sunshine Project]