Multiple labs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been sanctioned by federal regulators for mishandling pathogens used in biological warfare, USA Today reported Tuesday.
In one case, a CDC-operated laboratory even had its operating permit suspended “for serious safety violations while working with bioterror pathogens,” the newspaper reported, citing papers pried loose from the government after a long Freedom of Information Act fight.
Secret federal enforcement actions have been taken six times against the CDC’s own labs because of “serious or repeated violations” in handling regulated bioterror-friendly agents, which include such pathogens as anthrax, plague and Ebola, the paper reported.
CDC and the the U.S. Department of Agriculture operate the biolabs and jointly run the Federal Select Agent Program that oversees government, university, military and private labs that handle biological-warfare agents.
The revelation that CDC’s own labs were among the worst offenders of safety rules and the most sanctioned by inspectors-general caused watchdog groups to question the agency’s effectiveness and secrecy practices to USA Today.
“There is no security rationale for withholding the identities of the suspended labs,” said Richard Ebright, a biosafety expert at Rutgers University. “The sole rationale is a CYA rationale, in which the CDC seeks to cover its derriere by covering up violations and shielding staff and management responsible from accountability for violations.”
The CDC downplayed the violations in the few details it voluntarily provided to USA Today, noting that several of the mishandlings involved dead viruses and that others were about which areas of labs live agents were stored.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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