U.S. Biodefense Boom Produces Benefits, Worries

The number of U.S. university laboratories conducting research on potential bioterrorism agents has exploded in a matter of years to possibly more than 400, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported yesterday (see GSN, July 11).

The Bush administration has allocated more than $40 billion for biological defense since September 2001.

Work that was once primarily conducted by the military has spread across the research sector over the last six years.  Among the agents being studied are ricin, anthrax, Ebola, Q fever and tularemia.

“Everyone and their cousins are trying to get into it because it’s where the money is and it’s necessary,” said Ronald Blanck, former president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

“The work being done is beginning to leverage against threats from naturally occurring diseases like avian flu,” he said.  “A lot of the infrastructure from biological weapons research is also preparing us to deal with things like a flu epidemic.”

Some researchers, though, complain that they have been “drafted” into the biodefense effort.  Watchdog groups also warn that the rising number of research sites raises the likelihood of mishaps or security violations and produces obstacles to federal oversight of the work, the Star-Telegram reported.

“Ultimately, we don’t need 400 institutions across the U.S. working on biological weapons agents,” said Edward Hammond, head of the Texas-based Sunshine Project.  “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,” added Hammond, whose organization has publicized a number of research accidents at universities (see GSN, July 5). 

The danger has been highlighted by Texas A&M University’s failure to promptly report 2006 incidents in which laboratory workers were exposed to potential biological weapons agents (see GSN, Aug. 2).

Scientists argued that research laboratories have taken on significant security upgrades to prevent the wrong people from obtaining disease material that could be used as weapons.

Anyone trying to enter the laboratory of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas — which is conducting ricin research — must enter key codes and passwords.  Workers must undergo background checks and FBI fingerprinting.  The Centers for Disease Control performs site inspections.

“The system, though, is only as good as the people who work in the labs.  We spend a lot of time with how things can be circumvented or sabotaged,” said center Chairwoman Ellen Vitetta.  “My life is consumed with compliance” (Pete Alfano, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Aug. 23).

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