Watchdog Groups Warn of Biodefense Research Risks

Watchdog groups have begun to warn of the risks posed by the proliferation of biological defense research projects in the United States, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 20).

Since the enactment of Project BioShield in 2004 committed $6 billion to biological defense initiatives over 10 years, the number of university laboratories working on such research has risen to more than 400, according to the Star-Telegram.

Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project in Austin, called laboratory security inconsistent and said federal overseers have allowed some accidents to go unreported or be hidden from public scrutiny.

"Ultimately, we don't need 400 institutions across the U.S. working on biological weapons agents," Hammond said. "We've gone way overboard. I request records from universities, and there are wildly divergent interpretations of what constitutes security.”

“They’re all doing it by the seat of their pants,” he said.

Ronald Kendall, director of Texas Tech University’s Institute of Environmental and Human Health, defended the increase in biological defense research but warned of its risks.

“When we (Tech) got into it in 1998, there was a national consortium of just four universities. It might be debated whether we are overreacting … but the consensus of 16 intelligence agencies is that there is a high level of threat from an attack.

“If we don't prepare ourselves, the consequences could be devastating,” he said (Pete Alfano, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sept. 23).

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