Plague of bioweapons accidents afflicts the US

New Scientist ^ | 05 July 2007 | Debora MacKenzie

[BGHater]

Deadly germs may be more likely to be spread due to a biodefence lab accident than a biological attack by terrorists.

Plague, anthrax, Rocky Mountain spotted fever - these are among the bioweapons some experts fear could be used in a germ warfare attack against the US. But the public has had near-misses with those diseases and others over the past five years, ironically because of accidents in labs that were working to defend against bioterrorists. Even worse, they may be only the tip of an iceberg.

The revelations come from Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project, a biosafety pressure group based in Austin, Texas, US, who after persistent requests got the minutes of university biosafety committees using the US Freedom of Information Act. The minutes are accessible to the public by law.

There are now 20,000 people at 400 sites around the US working with putative bioweapons germs, says Hammond, 10 times more than before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Some scientists have warned for years that more people handling dangerous germs are a recipe for accidents. Unreported incidents?

The fears have been borne out by publicised infections of lab workers with tularemia, brucellosis and Q fever.

The Q fever incident took place at Texas A&M University, which has now been ordered to stop research into potential bioweapons while an investigation takes place.

[festus]

For the record that was not a bioweapons accident at my house. THat was my chili.

[DBrow]

” At the University of California at Berkeley, workers handled deadly Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which spreads in the air, “

Major loss of credibility right there. RMSF is spread the same way babesiosis is. As for the rest, too many “unknowns” and “could bes” to be a real problem. If someone gets stuck and must report it, but never develops the disease, where is the problem?

[Androcles]

If someone gets stuck and must report it, but never develops the disease, where is the problem?

That depends on the frequency of such accidents. Obviously, an accident is still serious even if the victim is lucky enough to escape contagion, especially when we're talking about bioweapons. The potential damage from an escape mandates extreme care - although I don't beleve the media is well-equipped to monitor this stuff!

If a facility is having regular incidents, whatever the outcome, then their procedures need tightening. We've been lucky to now. But as any casino will tell you, luck always runs out in the end.