Post by SpyderLady on Oct 15, 2007 21:37:18 GMT -6
Oct 2, 5:15 PM EDT 2007
Mishandling of Germs on Rise at US Labs
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- American laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing as more labs do the work.
No one died, and regulators said the public was never at risk during these incidents. Oh of course no one was at risk.
But the documented cases reflect poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and poisons that can cause illnesses with no cure. In some cases, labs have failed to report accidents as required by law. I can believe that and its totally scary!
The mishaps include workers bitten or scratched by infected animals, skin cuts, needle sticks and more, according to a review by The Associated Press of confidential reports submitted to federal regulators. They describe accidents involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox and plague-causing bacteria at 44 labs in 24 states. More than two-dozen incidents were still under investigation. Why am I thinking about all that publicity about the bird flu not so long ago...makes you wonder if they thought some of it had got out, doesn't it.
The number of accidents has risen steadily. Through August, the most recent period covered in the reports obtained by the AP, labs reported 36 accidents and lost shipments during 2007 - nearly double the number reported during all of 2004.
I am thinking to myself...THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY!!!
Likewise, the number of labs approved by the government to handle the deadliest substances has nearly doubled to 409 since 2004, and there are now 15 of the highest-security labs. Labs are routinely inspected by federal regulators just once every three years, but accidents trigger interim inspections. Yep, just like everywhere else, just let it go until something bad happens.
In a new report by congressional investigators, the Government Accountability Office said little is known about labs that aren't federally funded or don't work with any of 72 dangerous substances the government monitors most closely. Oh, ok...only the funded ones are the dangerous ones..I see.
"No single federal agency ... has the mission to track the overall number of these labs in the United States," said the GAO's report, expected to be released later this week. "Consequently, no agency is responsible for determining the risks associated with the proliferation of these labs." Hmmmm, how nice
The House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee plans hearings Thursday on the issue. The lab incidents have sparked bipartisan concern. Hearings? Why does there have to be hearings for something that is dangerous and needs to be monitored, what the hell is wrong with this picture?
"It may be only a matter of time before our nation has a public health incident with potentially catastrophic results," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the panel's chairman. Really? and what makes me think there already has been one.
The subcommittee's senior Republican, Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, added: "Currently, there is a hodgepodge system of federal oversight regulating the ... laboratories responsible for researching the deadliest germs and diseases. At Thursdays hearing, I expect to probe witnesses about how to improve oversight of these laboratories in a post 9-11 world." Probe witnesses? Just get folks out there and check on the shit going on in these labs, for god's sake!!
Lab accidents have affected the outside world: Britain's health and safety agency concluded there was a "strong probability" a leaking pipe at a British lab manufacturing vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease was the source of an outbreak of the illness in livestock earlier this year. Britain was forced to suspend exports of livestock, meat and milk products and destroy livestock. The disease does not infect humans.
Accidents aren't the only concern. While medical experts consider it unlikely that a lab employee will become sick and infect others, these labs have strict rules to prevent anyone from stealing organisms or toxins and using them for bioterrorism. Oh, bear with me on this. A rule is going to stop someone from doing this. Oh...okaaaaaaaaay. Hmmmmm, now let's see, these labs are not inspected very often and no one knows who is watching over these labs, so how strict can it be there?
The reports were so sensitive the Bush administration refused to release them under the Freedom of Information Act, citing an anti-bioterrorism law aimed at preventing terrorists from locating stockpiles of poisons and learning who handles them. So we can't find out where these labs are. For all they know, a terrorist is working inside one of the labs. How would they ever know if no one is concerned enough to inspect them.
Among the previously undisclosed accidents:
-In Rockville, Md., ferret No. 992, inoculated with bird flu virus, bit a technician at Bioqual Inc. on the right thumb in July. The worker was placed on home quarantine for five days and directed to wear a mask to protect others. WTH, and just how many do they need to inoculate if this ferret was # 992! There are at least 991 others, unless most of them died, and who knows how many more after 992!
-An Oklahoma State University lab in Stillwater in December could not account for a dead mouse inoculated with bacteria that causes joint pain, weakness, lymph node swelling and pneumonia. The rodent - one of 30 to be incinerated - was never found, but the lab said an employee "must have forgotten to remove the dead mouse from the cage" before the cage was sterilized. How could you be so careless working with terrible things like this...must have forgotten to remove it?? Sterilized. Oh ok, so a sterilized, diseased mouse is ok.
-In Albuquerque, N.M., an employee at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute was bitten on the left hand by an infected monkey in September 2006. The animal was ill from an infection of bacteria that causes plague. "When the gloves were removed, the skin appeared to be broken in 2 or 3 places," the report said. The worker was referred to a doctor, but nothing more was disclosed. Plague? and nothing more was disclosed??
-In Fort Collins, Colo., a worker at a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facility found, in January 2004, three broken vials of Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus. Wearing only a laboratory coat and gloves, he used tweezers to remove broken glass and moved the materials to a special container. The virus, a potential bio-warfare agent, could cause brain inflammation and is supposed to be handled in a lab requiring pressure suits that resemble space suits. The report did not say whether the worker became ill. ummmm, let me guess...
Other reports describe leaks of contaminated waste, dropped containers with cultures of bacteria and viruses, and defective seals on airtight containers. Some recount missing or lost shipments, including plague bacteria that was supposed to be delivered to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 2003. The wayward plague shipment was discovered eventually in Belgium and incinerated safely. Sure it was. Why are these things so haphazardly shipped??
The reports must be submitted to regulators whenever a lab suffers a theft, loss or release of any of 72 substances known as "select agents" - a government list of germs and toxins that represent the horror stories of the world's worst medical tragedies for humans and animals.
A senior CDC official, Dr. Richard Besser, said his agency is committed to ensuring that U.S. labs are safe and that all such incidents are disclosed to the government. He said he was unaware of any risk to the public resulting from infections among workers at the high-security labs, but he acknowledged that regulators are worried about accidents that could go unreported.Yep, oops I dropped this vial of flesh eating virus...I better vacuum this up and hide the broken vial so I won't get fired.
"If you're asking if it's possible for someone to not report an infection, and have it missed, that clearly is a concern that we have," Besser said.
Texas A&M's laboratory failed to report, until this year, one case of a lab worker's infection from Brucella bacteria last year and three others' previous infection with Q fever - missteps documented in news reports earlier this year. The illnesses are characterized by high fevers and flu-like symptoms that sometimes cause more serious complications.Oh I can only imagine
"The major problems at Texas A&M went undetected and unreported, and we don't think that it was an isolated event," critic Edward Hammond said. He runs the Sunshine Project, which has tracked incidents at other labs for years and first revealed the Texas A&M illnesses that the school failed to report.
Rules for working in the labs are tough and are getting more restrictive as the bio-safety levels rise. The highest is Level 4, where labs study substances that pose a "high risk of life-threatening disease for which no vaccine or therapy is available." Besides wearing full-body, air-supplied suits, workers undergo extensive background checks and carry special identification cards.Really, and who checks them out?
"The risk that a killer agent could be set loose in the general population is real," Hammond said.
In other lab accidents recounted in the reports, the Public Health Research Institute in Newark, N.J., was investigated by the FBI in 2005 when it couldn't account for three of 24 mice infected with plague bacteria. The lab and the CDC concluded the mice were cannibalized by other plague-infested mice or buried under bedding when the cage was sterilized with high temperatures.Concluded, oh, how nice of them. If these are so dangerous and need to be kept up with, which I am thinking "plague" hell yes, please keep up with them...why isn't there a camera going 24/7 on every animal?!
The lab's director, Dr. David Perlin, told the AP it would be impossible for mice to escape from the building and said a worker failed to record their deaths. Nothing is impossible when it comes to a diseased mouse!!
"I feel 99 percent comfortable that was the case," Perlin said. "The animals become badly cannibalized. You only see bits and pieces. They're in cages with shredded newspaper. You really have to search hard with gloves and masks."Well...there is a 1% chance there could be a disastrous plague out there somewhere. Hmmm, why does it sound like these places are so totally unorganized. Why isn't there a number on each cage of how many are in there? And why is there more than one in a cage if they are known to eat each other? Sounds fishy to me.
A worker at the Army's biological facility in Fort Detrick, Md., was grazed by a needle in February 2004 and exposed to the deadly Ebola virus after a mouse kicked a syringe. She was placed in an isolation ward called "The Slammer," but the Army said she did not become ill. ok I believe ya
In other previously undisclosed accidents:
In Decatur, Ga., a worker at the Georgia Public Health Laboratory handled a Brucella culture in April 2004 without high-level precautions. She became feverish months later and tested positive for exposure at a hospital emergency room in July. She eventually returned to work. The lab's confidential report defended her: "The technologist is a good laboratorian and has good technique."Sounds like to me these folks in these labs could be walking around infecting people at any time. And if ANY of them ever gets sick, why would they go to an ER? Don't they have a procedure to be put in isolation and seen by a special work doctor just in case or to be on the safe side. Am I the only one that doesn't understand any of this??
In April this year at the Lovelace facility in Albuquerque, an African green monkey infected intentionally with plague-causing bacteria reached with its free hand and scratched at a Velcro restraining strap, cutting into the gloved hand of a lab worker. The injured worker at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute received medical treatment, including an antibiotic. No mention of isolation...is that a procedure or not?
The National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, reported leaks of contaminated waste three times in November and December 2006. While one worker was preparing a pipe for repairs, he cut his middle finger, possibly exposing him to Brucella, according to the confidential reports.Wonder where these piped comtaminated waste goes.
A researcher at the CDC's lab in Fort Collins, Colo., dropped two containers on the floor last November, including one with plague bacteria.All these years of advancement and they haven't come up with a non breakable vial...give me a break! Pun intented.
A worker at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., sliced through two pair of gloves while handling a rat carcass infected with plague bacteria. The May 2005 report said she was sent to an emergency room, which released her and asked her to return for a follow-up visit. They sent her to the ER. That freakin amazes me. Next time you go to the ER, look at the person sitting beside you, and wonder if they work in a lab. Why do they act so casual about plague exposure??!!! This shit scares the bejesesses out of me!!
Mishandling of Germs on Rise at US Labs
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- American laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing as more labs do the work.
No one died, and regulators said the public was never at risk during these incidents. Oh of course no one was at risk.
But the documented cases reflect poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and poisons that can cause illnesses with no cure. In some cases, labs have failed to report accidents as required by law. I can believe that and its totally scary!The mishaps include workers bitten or scratched by infected animals, skin cuts, needle sticks and more, according to a review by The Associated Press of confidential reports submitted to federal regulators. They describe accidents involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox and plague-causing bacteria at 44 labs in 24 states. More than two-dozen incidents were still under investigation. Why am I thinking about all that publicity about the bird flu not so long ago...makes you wonder if they thought some of it had got out, doesn't it.
The number of accidents has risen steadily. Through August, the most recent period covered in the reports obtained by the AP, labs reported 36 accidents and lost shipments during 2007 - nearly double the number reported during all of 2004.
I am thinking to myself...THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY!!!Likewise, the number of labs approved by the government to handle the deadliest substances has nearly doubled to 409 since 2004, and there are now 15 of the highest-security labs. Labs are routinely inspected by federal regulators just once every three years, but accidents trigger interim inspections. Yep, just like everywhere else, just let it go until something bad happens.
In a new report by congressional investigators, the Government Accountability Office said little is known about labs that aren't federally funded or don't work with any of 72 dangerous substances the government monitors most closely. Oh, ok...only the funded ones are the dangerous ones..I see.
"No single federal agency ... has the mission to track the overall number of these labs in the United States," said the GAO's report, expected to be released later this week. "Consequently, no agency is responsible for determining the risks associated with the proliferation of these labs." Hmmmm, how nice
The House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee plans hearings Thursday on the issue. The lab incidents have sparked bipartisan concern. Hearings? Why does there have to be hearings for something that is dangerous and needs to be monitored, what the hell is wrong with this picture?
"It may be only a matter of time before our nation has a public health incident with potentially catastrophic results," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the panel's chairman. Really? and what makes me think there already has been one.
The subcommittee's senior Republican, Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, added: "Currently, there is a hodgepodge system of federal oversight regulating the ... laboratories responsible for researching the deadliest germs and diseases. At Thursdays hearing, I expect to probe witnesses about how to improve oversight of these laboratories in a post 9-11 world." Probe witnesses? Just get folks out there and check on the shit going on in these labs, for god's sake!!
Lab accidents have affected the outside world: Britain's health and safety agency concluded there was a "strong probability" a leaking pipe at a British lab manufacturing vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease was the source of an outbreak of the illness in livestock earlier this year. Britain was forced to suspend exports of livestock, meat and milk products and destroy livestock. The disease does not infect humans.
Accidents aren't the only concern. While medical experts consider it unlikely that a lab employee will become sick and infect others, these labs have strict rules to prevent anyone from stealing organisms or toxins and using them for bioterrorism. Oh, bear with me on this. A rule is going to stop someone from doing this. Oh...okaaaaaaaaay. Hmmmmm, now let's see, these labs are not inspected very often and no one knows who is watching over these labs, so how strict can it be there?
The reports were so sensitive the Bush administration refused to release them under the Freedom of Information Act, citing an anti-bioterrorism law aimed at preventing terrorists from locating stockpiles of poisons and learning who handles them. So we can't find out where these labs are. For all they know, a terrorist is working inside one of the labs. How would they ever know if no one is concerned enough to inspect them.
Among the previously undisclosed accidents:
-In Rockville, Md., ferret No. 992, inoculated with bird flu virus, bit a technician at Bioqual Inc. on the right thumb in July. The worker was placed on home quarantine for five days and directed to wear a mask to protect others.
WTH, and just how many do they need to inoculate if this ferret was # 992! There are at least 991 others, unless most of them died, and who knows how many more after 992!-An Oklahoma State University lab in Stillwater in December could not account for a dead mouse inoculated with bacteria that causes joint pain, weakness, lymph node swelling and pneumonia. The rodent - one of 30 to be incinerated - was never found, but the lab said an employee "must have forgotten to remove the dead mouse from the cage" before the cage was sterilized. How could you be so careless working with terrible things like this...must have forgotten to remove it?? Sterilized. Oh ok, so a sterilized, diseased mouse is ok.
-In Albuquerque, N.M., an employee at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute was bitten on the left hand by an infected monkey in September 2006. The animal was ill from an infection of bacteria that causes plague. "When the gloves were removed, the skin appeared to be broken in 2 or 3 places," the report said. The worker was referred to a doctor, but nothing more was disclosed.
Plague? and nothing more was disclosed??-In Fort Collins, Colo., a worker at a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facility found, in January 2004, three broken vials of Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus. Wearing only a laboratory coat and gloves, he used tweezers to remove broken glass and moved the materials to a special container. The virus, a potential bio-warfare agent, could cause brain inflammation and is supposed to be handled in a lab requiring pressure suits that resemble space suits. The report did not say whether the worker became ill.
ummmm, let me guess...Other reports describe leaks of contaminated waste, dropped containers with cultures of bacteria and viruses, and defective seals on airtight containers. Some recount missing or lost shipments, including plague bacteria that was supposed to be delivered to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 2003. The wayward plague shipment was discovered eventually in Belgium and incinerated safely. Sure it was. Why are these things so haphazardly shipped??
The reports must be submitted to regulators whenever a lab suffers a theft, loss or release of any of 72 substances known as "select agents" - a government list of germs and toxins that represent the horror stories of the world's worst medical tragedies for humans and animals.
A senior CDC official, Dr. Richard Besser, said his agency is committed to ensuring that U.S. labs are safe and that all such incidents are disclosed to the government. He said he was unaware of any risk to the public resulting from infections among workers at the high-security labs, but he acknowledged that regulators are worried about accidents that could go unreported.Yep, oops I dropped this vial of flesh eating virus...I better vacuum this up and hide the broken vial so I won't get fired.
"If you're asking if it's possible for someone to not report an infection, and have it missed, that clearly is a concern that we have," Besser said.
Texas A&M's laboratory failed to report, until this year, one case of a lab worker's infection from Brucella bacteria last year and three others' previous infection with Q fever - missteps documented in news reports earlier this year. The illnesses are characterized by high fevers and flu-like symptoms that sometimes cause more serious complications.Oh I can only imagine
"The major problems at Texas A&M went undetected and unreported, and we don't think that it was an isolated event," critic Edward Hammond said. He runs the Sunshine Project, which has tracked incidents at other labs for years and first revealed the Texas A&M illnesses that the school failed to report.
Rules for working in the labs are tough and are getting more restrictive as the bio-safety levels rise. The highest is Level 4, where labs study substances that pose a "high risk of life-threatening disease for which no vaccine or therapy is available." Besides wearing full-body, air-supplied suits, workers undergo extensive background checks and carry special identification cards.Really, and who checks them out?
"The risk that a killer agent could be set loose in the general population is real," Hammond said.
In other lab accidents recounted in the reports, the Public Health Research Institute in Newark, N.J., was investigated by the FBI in 2005 when it couldn't account for three of 24 mice infected with plague bacteria. The lab and the CDC concluded the mice were cannibalized by other plague-infested mice or buried under bedding when the cage was sterilized with high temperatures.Concluded, oh, how nice of them. If these are so dangerous and need to be kept up with, which I am thinking "plague" hell yes, please keep up with them...why isn't there a camera going 24/7 on every animal?!
The lab's director, Dr. David Perlin, told the AP it would be impossible for mice to escape from the building and said a worker failed to record their deaths. Nothing is impossible when it comes to a diseased mouse!!
"I feel 99 percent comfortable that was the case," Perlin said. "The animals become badly cannibalized. You only see bits and pieces. They're in cages with shredded newspaper. You really have to search hard with gloves and masks."Well...there is a 1% chance there could be a disastrous plague out there somewhere. Hmmm, why does it sound like these places are so totally unorganized. Why isn't there a number on each cage of how many are in there? And why is there more than one in a cage if they are known to eat each other? Sounds fishy to me.
A worker at the Army's biological facility in Fort Detrick, Md., was grazed by a needle in February 2004 and exposed to the deadly Ebola virus after a mouse kicked a syringe. She was placed in an isolation ward called "The Slammer," but the Army said she did not become ill.
ok I believe yaIn other previously undisclosed accidents:
In Decatur, Ga., a worker at the Georgia Public Health Laboratory handled a Brucella culture in April 2004 without high-level precautions. She became feverish months later and tested positive for exposure at a hospital emergency room in July. She eventually returned to work. The lab's confidential report defended her: "The technologist is a good laboratorian and has good technique."Sounds like to me these folks in these labs could be walking around infecting people at any time. And if ANY of them ever gets sick, why would they go to an ER? Don't they have a procedure to be put in isolation and seen by a special work doctor just in case or to be on the safe side. Am I the only one that doesn't understand any of this??
In April this year at the Lovelace facility in Albuquerque, an African green monkey infected intentionally with plague-causing bacteria reached with its free hand and scratched at a Velcro restraining strap, cutting into the gloved hand of a lab worker. The injured worker at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute received medical treatment, including an antibiotic. No mention of isolation...is that a procedure or not?
The National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, reported leaks of contaminated waste three times in November and December 2006. While one worker was preparing a pipe for repairs, he cut his middle finger, possibly exposing him to Brucella, according to the confidential reports.Wonder where these piped comtaminated waste goes.
A researcher at the CDC's lab in Fort Collins, Colo., dropped two containers on the floor last November, including one with plague bacteria.
All these years of advancement and they haven't come up with a non breakable vial...give me a break! Pun intented.A worker at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., sliced through two pair of gloves while handling a rat carcass infected with plague bacteria. The May 2005 report said she was sent to an emergency room, which released her and asked her to return for a follow-up visit.
They sent her to the ER. That freakin amazes me. Next time you go to the ER, look at the person sitting beside you, and wonder if they work in a lab. Why do they act so casual about plague exposure??!!! This shit scares the bejesesses out of me!!