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Biosecurity News in Brief
U.S. House of Representatives Holds Hearing on Biosafety Lab Facilities By Molly D’Esopo, October 5, 2007 On October 4, 2007, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing entitled “Germs, Viruses, and Secrets: The Silent Proliferation of Bio-Laboratories in the United States.” According to a CIDRAP News report, the hearing “was the first of a series of committee hearings” which will address biosecurity and biosafety issues including “biosafety at labs outside of the United States and the proposed closure of the BSL 4 facility at Plum Island, N.Y.”1 At issue is the lack of federal oversight of or even basic knowledge about BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratory facilities, where research is conducted on some of the most dangerous pathogens. MarketWatch reported that information is available on laboratories receiving federal research dollars and those that conduct research on the select agents; but there is a void of knowledge regarding countless other labs and according to a new GAO report, “no agency is responsible for determining the risks associated with the proliferation of the labs.” Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who led the hearing, noted that "No one in the federal government even knows for sure how many of these labs there are in the U.S., much less what research they are doing, or whether they are safe and secure."2 Dr. Richard Besser, director of CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, testified that CDC is looking to improve its lab inspection program and to increase the frequency with which inspections are conducted. Ed Davis, interim president of Texas A&M, an institution which failed to report lab accidents last year, suggested that greater federal involvement could lead to greater biosafety compliance within labs. "We should have a program that can endure any type of inspection, announced or unannounced," he noted.3 In his testimony, Ed Hammond, director of The Sunshine Project, a watchdog group that exposed the Texas A&M lab accidents, also advocated for greater transparency: "There's a positive correlation between transparency and compliance and reporting."1 Dr. Gigi Kwik Gronvall, Senior Associate at the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC, noted in her testimony the findings of a group experts convened in March to examine lab safety and security issues as well as the relationships between laboratories and communities in which they are located. Specifically, Dr. Gronvall recommended:
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