CDC Lab Power Loss Raises Biosafety Concerns

Containment systems for deadly germs shut down last month at a leading U.S. bioterrorism defense lab, underscoring security doubts within the biological research industry, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today (see GSN, July 5).

Generators running germ-trapping air pumps were knocked out for an hour during a lightning storm, potentially jeopardizing the safety cordon around sensitive research areas at the facility in DeKalb County, Georgia.

“I don’t think there is anything we’ll ever be able to do to totally prevent power outages at CDC,” said spokesman Tom Skinner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which operates the laboratory.  “What we have to do is move toward minimizing the duration of the time we are without power.”

While the venting system went down, scientists were able to safely secure their experiments using 15 to 20 minutes of reserve battery power, said laboratory architect Jon Crane.

The site contains facilities that have worked on avian influenza, anthrax and the 1918 pandemic flu virus, though it is not known what experiments were under way when the lightning struck.

A biosafety expert called for closure of the research facility until the power loss is fully explained and addressed, the Journal-Constitution reported.

“This is an astonishing design lapse,” said molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University.  “It’s just remarkable that a building of such national prominence, intended for work with some of the most lethal agents, was designed and constructed without an effective backup power system.”

The CDC laboratories have reinforced containment systems that protect workers and the public in power outages, the agency and other experts said.  Potentially contaminated air did not leak outward when the pumps went down, said Casey Chosewood, CDC health and safety officer.

Ebright said he worried about the laboratory workers who depend on constant air ventilation.

“In those cases, there could be potential exposure of the individuals carrying out the experiments,” he said.

At the DeKalb County facility, more than just safety systems rely on a constant power supply, said security expert Jeanne Guillemin of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“All your security that’s relying on power just went down.  It’s not good,” she added (Alison Young, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 20).

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