Government inspections often failed to detect important safety and security lapses at laboratories working with dangeorus germs and toxins that can be used as bioterror weapons, a recent audit found. Meanwhile, a new GAO report says the United States is at increased risk of accidents at these high-containment labs because there continue to be no national standards for their design, construction and maintenance.
Last May, because of current science showing children are harmed by even low-level exposures to lead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut by half the amount of the toxin in a child's blood that should trigger public health actions.
Contaminated house dust and soil are among the key ways children are exposed to lead. Yet the Environmental Protection Agency says it has no current plans to revise its 2001 standards for how much lead is considered hazardous in dust and soil.
The EPA has been studying whether its house dust standard is protective enough since it received a formal petition in 2009 from a group of environmental and children's advocates. But the soil standard wasn't part of that petition and the EPA told USA TODAY last week it believes it is effective.
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.
Despite strict security measures that are supposed to be in place when researchers work with anthrax and other potential bioterror agents, a high-containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has had repeated incidents of security doors left unlocked.
Internal CDC emails obtained by USA TODAY describe unlocked door incidents in 2010 and 2009 in a Biosafety Level 3 area that Rutgers University biosafety expert Richard Ebright says appear to be serious security violations. They include an April 2010 incident where a CDC safety manager reports that "an individual with no access and no escort" was found in the building's high-containment lab block of BSL-3 labs and animal holding areas.
The CDC says there was never any risk of infectious agents falling into the wrong hands because of of multiple layers of security in agency's $214 million Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, also called CDC Building 18.
The incidents of unsecured doors are the latest problems to become public about Building 18. Earlier this week I reported that the House Energy and Commerce Committee opened a bipartisan investigation following my report earlier this month about air flow problems in the building and that CDC was now considering having an outside agency review its labs' safety. While I was a reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I revealed other problems at Building 18. They included a containment door on a bioterror lab that the agency had sealed with duct tape to address an air flow problem and a failure of backup generators to keep power on in the building.
The "documents you have obtained over the past several years make it clear that there has been a pattern of corner-cutting and negligence at CDC biocontainment facilities —starting with the failure to include provisions for emergency backup power, and encompassing inadequate door seals, improper airflow, jury-rigged repairs, and unsecured access points," Ebright said.
Facing scrutiny of its self-policing of safety problems at a $214 million bioterror lab, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering having an outside agency examine biosafety and biosecurity at its labs. The agency also is taking action to address fire code violations -- dating back to December 2010 -- that could trap workers inside labs during an emergency because of excessive negative air pressure that makes some doors difficult to open. The CDC currently inspects its own high-containment laboratories, which work with dangerous infectious agents such as anthrax, monkeypox and SARS. Read my full USA TODAY article: CDC considers outside checks on labs
The actions come after USA TODAY obtained internal CDC documents showing the agency's Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory in Atlanta, also called Building 18, has had a series of problems with important air flow systems that help prevent dangerous pathogens from being released. On Monday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee launched a bipartisan investigation into the issues described in USA TODAY's report. The committee has given CDC director Thomas Frieden until July 6 to produce a wide range of documents about safety issues in Building 18, according to a letter sent Monday.
A former top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says lab safety issues at one of the agency's high-containment bioterror laboratories in Atlanta raise concerns about self policing. The official is Dr. Richard Besser, former director of CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.
Besser is now chief health and medical editor for ABC News, which quotes him as saying: "Laboratory safety is not an area where you want to have this much self-policing ...There is clearly an appearance of conflict of interest in having the inspection program at CDC given the number of laboratories housed within the agency." Read their story at: Air Leak Sparks Safety Fears at CDC Bioterror Lab
Meanwhile, CNN reports that a congressional committee will investigate the air leak issue revealed in internal CDC emails and other documents obtained by USA TODAY. Congress investigates air leak
A $214 million lab building at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had repeated problems with important air flow systems that help prevent the release of dangerous bioterror germs, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. I previously reported in 2007 and 2008 on other problems in CDC Building 18, including a Q fever lab door that the agency had been sealed with duct tape and the failure of backup generators need to keep air flow systems working. I also previously reported on concerns of agency engineering staff about another CDC lab building, Building 17.
A federal "Do Not Board" list failed one-third of the time to stop people from flying who had been deemed serious health threats to other airline passengers, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the "Do Not Board" list is separate from the terrorism "No Fly" list, its purpose is similar: to keep those who might pose a threat to travelers from flying. So far this year, the health list failed three times to stop high-risk individuals with tuberculosis from taking commercial flights. The incidents occurred in the months before a man who tried to bomb Times Square was able to board a Dubai-bound flight in May despite being on the "No Fly" list. TSA took action to close a key loophole in the lists after the May incident. Why didn't TSA act earlier? Read the full story in USA TODAY: Loopholes in 'Do Not Board' list let infected travelers fly
Thousands of passengers undergoing new full-body backscatter X-ray scans at U.S. airports are relying on the Transportation Security Admnistration to ensure the machines only deliver the small radiation dose needed to see through their clothes. But a 2008 report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's workplace safety arm found TSA and its contractors have failed in the past to identify baggage X-ray machines that were emitting more radiation than regulations allow. The TSA says all its X-ray machines -- for people and luggage -- have passed recent inspections. But so far the TSA hasn't released any of the reports, despite USA TODAY's repeated requests since last month. Read the full stories: Lawmakers call on TSA to release X-ray inspection records and TSA workers, experts worry about X-ray malfunctions
Alison Young has more than 20 years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor at major U.S. newspapers. She is currently a member of USA TODAY's investigative team and is past president of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a national journalism training organization. Young is a frequent speaker on the techniques of watchdog journalism. This site is her personal portfolio of articles and reporting tips. You can reach her at ayoung@usatoday.com.
