Anthrax:  Brentwood Postal Facility Successfully Decontaminated

The effort to decontaminate Washington’s Brentwood Road postal facility of anthrax, following the autumn 2001 anthrax attacks, appears to be a success, U.S. Postal Service officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2002).

Thousands of air and surface samples taken from the facility all came back negative for anthrax spores, officials said.  While the results of the tests still need to be reviewed by an expert committee, the preliminary findings prompted postal officials to say the facility could be reopened to postal workers by summer, according to the Washington Post.

“We are very confident that we have a building that is anthrax-free,” said Thomas Day, Postal Service vice president for engineering.

The Environmental Clearance Committee, consisting of 15 academic, government and private-industry experts, is now reviewing the results of the air and surface samples, the Post reported.  Committee members plan to enter the Brentwood facility today without wearing protective equipment, and they are expected to confirm the successful decontamination in a report to be released in the next few days, officials said.

Some Brentwood employees, however, still have lingering fears (see GSN, Jan. 8).

“The majority of workers have anxieties about going back,” said Dena Briscoe, who worked as a clerk in the facility and is now president of Brentwood Exposed, a support group of former and current workers.  “That’s really our building, as workers.  We would love for that building to be ours again, but it’s going to take time to adjust,” she said (Manny Fernandez, Washington Post, March 5).

For further information, see:

CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax

FBI Amerithrax Investigation

Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax

GSN Anthrax Attack Chronology (Dec. 12, 2001)

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United States:  On-The-Lam Monkey Raises Fears Over Proposed Laboratory

The recent escape of a research monkey from a University of California at Davis facility has raised concerns among area residents about the security of a proposed Biosafety Level 4 laboratory the university is seeking to build, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, July 18, 2002).

The 2-year old female rhesus macaque, which was to be used for breeding purposes, escaped the California National Primate Research Center Feb. 13 when handlers were cleaning cages.  The macaque went behind the cages, and the center’s employees reported hearing a slurping sound, as if the monkey had went down a small drain, according to the AP.  A search of the center’s plumbing using fiber-optic cameras, however, failed to find the monkey. 

In the 41 years that the primate center has been in operation, 82 monkeys have been able to escape and enjoy life on the outside before being quickly captured or return voluntarily, said UC-Davis spokeswoman Lisa Lapin. 

The primate center would supply research animals to the proposed laboratory, for which UC-Davis submitted a grant application this month to the National Institutes of Health.  The at-large monkey is disease-free because the primate center raises research animals for Biosafety Level 2 and 3 diseases, which have treatments available, university officials said.  They added that the monkey would not have been able to break out of the proposed laboratory, which would employ armed guards.

Still, area residents who oppose the Biosafety Level 4 facility said the escape raised questions about the proposed laboratory’s security. 

“If they can’t manage these monkeys when they’ve got level two and three diseases, how will they manage monkeys with level four diseases?” said Joshua English.

California National Primate Research Center Director Dallas Hyde said the security levels between the primate center and the proposed laboratory would be very different.  “Animals that go in there don’t come out alive,” he said (Brian Melley, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb. 23).

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