Congress Urged to Examine Laboratory Security

A U.S. House oversight committee should investigate security at the country’s most sensitive biological defense sites, the panel’s ranking Republican said this week (see GSN, July 20).

Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.) called for the inquiry in a letter to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), United Press International reported.

“The integrity of Biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratory procedures,” Davis wrote, referring to facilities assigned to work with the most dangerous diseases, “is emerging as a critical national and homeland security issue.”

In the letter, Davis referred to 2006 incidents in which Texas A&M University personnel were exposed to potential biological weapons agents.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month ordered the university to halt federally funded research on certain agents until it was finished looking into the incidents (see GSN, July 2).

Davis also referred to a power outage last month that shut down a critical ventilation system at the CDC biological terrorism laboratory in Georgia.

Such events create security and safety concerns at the high-security laboratories, which have grown in number since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Davis said.  He said the Government Accountability Office was investigating the matter and could support a congressional inquiry.

Waxman’s office did not immediately respond to the request for the inquiry, UPI reported (United Press International, July 31).

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