Alison Young Investigates

CDC bioterror labs cited in audits for repeated security failures

Labs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "compromised" their ability to safeguard potential bioterror agents against loss or theft with repeated failures to follow security procedures, according to "restricted" inspector general reports USA TODAY obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The three reports issued during 2010, 2009 and 2008 provide a rare outside assessment of CDC's safety and security performance in its work with dangerous "select agents" such as anthrax. CDC, which until recently inspected its own labs, has refused to release its inspection reports. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee says he'll be looking into the problems cited by the HHS IG.

The inspector general reports predate problems I reported on last summer with other problems at CDC's high-containment labs in Atlanta. Those included repeated issues with airflow systems designed to help contain dangerous pathogens and repeated problems with security doors left unlocked.

Read the full story and access links to copies of the IG reports at: CDC bioterror labs cited for security flaws in audits

'Ghost Factories' wins awards from AHCJ, SABEW

USA TODAY's "Ghost Factories" investigation of hazards posed by forgotten lead factories received top honors this week from national health and business journalism associations.

The Association of Health Care Journalists awarded the series first place in investigative reporting among large news organizations.

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers saluted "Ghost Factories" multimedia presentation with its new innovation award. The judges said: "USA Today clearly felt the poisons lurking in America’s collapsing industrial infrastructure was a story worthy of its best innovative effort. Excellent design, deep reporting and a solid, yet understated, user-experience combine to offer this year’s definitive perspective of the dangers of industrial toxins. Judges were especially impressed by reporters trained to measure for industrial impurities on their own, bringing a new meaning to the term 'investigative journalism.' "

Newark playground remained open despite contamination

Public housing officials in Newark, N.J., removed equipment from a playground Wednesday next to a long-forgotten lead factory site. The action, a result of USA TODAY's "Ghost Factories" investigation, came five days after the EPA had "validated" test results showing the soil was contaminated with hazardous levels of lead, and nine months after regulators confirmed the Barth Smelting lead factory had operated for years just a few feet away from the play area at the Terrell Homes.

EPA officials did not respond to questions about how long the agency has had preliminary results of the soil samples taken from the playground in early December.

Read the full story: Newark playground stayed unfenced despite contamination

EPA finds lead hazard at Newark public housing playground

No further investigation needed. That was the conclusion last summer of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection when it assessed the dangers posed by the former site of Bath Smelting. The assessment was done in response to USA TODAY's "Ghost Factories" investigation. And the EPA signed off on the state's report.

After USA TODAY questioned the conclusion -- given that there was a public housing complex playground just across the former Barth factory's property line -- the EPA said it would do some soil tests as a precaution.

The EPA this afternoon released those test results, which show soil in the playground area is contaminated with lead at levels well above the agency's hazard standards for children's play areas.

Read the full report: EPA finds poisonous lead at playground by smelter

EPA finds high lead levels at smelter site near Chicago homes

Tests by the Environmental Protection Agency have found dangerously high levels of lead contamination in the soil at a vacant lot in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood where Loewenthal Metals operated in the 1940s. The tests confirm what USA TODAY warned about in April 2012 as part of our "Ghost Factories" investigation, which featured the Loewenthal site and tests I did in the area showing significant lead contamination in the vicinity.

The EPA is now planning a cleanup of the site -- and will test adjacent properties to determine the extent of the contamination.

In December 2011 state regulators at the Illinois EPA formally requested the U.S. EPA do a removal investigation of the site -- which both agencies knew had contamination problem from tests they did in 2006. The state they made the request "as a result frankly of the [open records] request that came in from USA TODAY and going back in and looking at this information ... we concluded that it would be best to send in what we call a 'removal action' referral," Gary King, the state's remediation manager told USA TODAY in late 2011.

The EPA's soil testing was delayed until November 2012 because of difficulty gaining access to the property to do the soil testing. The results were released this week.

Read USA TODAY's full story: EPA plans cleanup of lead danger in Chicago