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U.S. Army to Expand Biological Defense Labs
The U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground plans to add four new laboratories beginning this spring to its live-pathogen facility used to test and detect biological warfare agents, the Tooele Transcript Bulletin reported today (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2001). The trailer-like modular labs are scheduled to be delivered to the Lothar Salomon Life Sciences Test Facility in May or early June, with each estimated to cost between $250,000 and $350,000. Three Biological Safety Level 3 modules will be used for the “cultivation and testing with hazardous organisms and toxins assigned to BSL-3 or below,” while the fourth BSL-3 certified lab will be used as a BSL-2 lab. BSL-3 pathogens are classified as germs such as anthrax, yellow fever and the West Nile virus that have “a potential for respiratory transmission, and which may cause serious potentially lethal infection,” according to a draft environmental impact statement issued by Dugway. BSL-4 agents include items such as Ebola, Lassa hemorrhagic fever and related agents for which there is no known cure. “Biosafety Level 3 work is the highest level of work performed at Dugway Proving Ground,” said Dugway spokeswoman Paula Nicholson. “All agents used in the lab have some type of immunization or prophylaxis for treatment,” she added. The modules are set be used at least temporarily in place of the planned annex to the Utah base’s biological test facility. There is presently no funding for the permanent structure, Nicholson said. Citizens Education Project Director Steve Erickson is concerned that Utah officials and the general public have not had time to assess the impacts of the lab expansion. “The state has essentially given permission to Dugway Proving Ground to do what Dugway does,” Erickson said. “People in the state are aware of what’s going on but no discussion takes place and there’s no (meaningful) public notification. The lack of state oversight is troubling,” he added. Utah Department of Health Deputy Director Richard Melton said Dugway is not required to report to the state when building a new lab. “We continue to work with Dugway to know what’s being done, but the facilities they’re building present no real problem,” Melton said (Tooele Transcript Bulletin, Feb. 24).
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