Posted on 11/26/2003 10:01:25 AM PST by TrebleRebel
When we hear the word "bioterrorism," we usually imagine the unyielding security system at the Center for Disease Control, the research done on the smallpox vaccine, and the outbreaks of anthrax in the U.S. postal system.
However, since 9/11, the most detrimental threat of attack still lies as close to home. The greatest danger may lie within our own universities. According to MSNBC, in an inspection of laboratories on two college campuses, the inspector general's office found that radioactive, chemical and biological agents and materials could be easily stolen from these facilities, which are lacking in both security and organization. The worst part? This situation is probably true for schools around the country.
"In the wrong hands, some of these agents or materials could pose a risk to human health and agricultural production in the United States," inspectors concluded.
Possibly fatal problems lurk in unlocked freezers, storage units and other unsupervised lab areas. Containers found lying in unsecured areas included the sample of an agent more deadly than the Black Plague. Anthrax, deadly animal diseases, smallpox and the pneumonic plague, an airborne disease that infects the lungs and kills 100 percent of its victims within 48 hours was another unguarded finding.
In a country where the educational system allows its science students the freedom to come and go from the laboratorial learning environment as they please, it is a shame that such precautions must be taken. But in this day and age, there is no choice.
Many of the inspected labs did not require student identification cards or sign-in sheets, and had no security systems or technological surveillance.
The most frightening part of this situation is that there was no formal inventory kept of the agents or vials of biohazard materials stored in the labs. The most recent inventory check dated as far back as 1994. If a vial of the bubonic plague were to go missing, it would be far too late before anyone discovered its disappearance.
Scientists responsible for these labs should be held accountable on all charges. Science is a practice of forethought, prediction and methodology. It is a precise process and thrives on organization. How could anyone who knew of the hazards and power that these lab samples could unleash be so careless with their storage?
It is incredible to think that this scenario is being played out in universities all over the United States, if not the entire world. For a bioterrorist, it is like an open invitation to use the powers of modern science to wreck havoc on humanity.
The scientists responsible for this potential disaster have not yet been brought up on formal charges. However, we as a nation should count our blessings.
In this season of Thanksgiving, we should give thanks that while at war with terrorism, our country has not been affected by bioterrorism outbreak. After nearly handing a self-destructive arsenal of bioterrorism supplies to terrorists, let us be thankful that the inevitable did not happen. With these discoveries, hopefully universities across the nation will take a good hard look at what exactly is "in the back of the freezer." What we don't know could kill us.
(C) 2002 Massachusetts Daily Collegian via U-WIRE
Plague is Plague. It's only when it infects a host that it becomes bubonic, septicemic or pneumonic. The organism is the same.
Furthermore, it's endemic among Prairie Dogs out here in the West, in case anyone wants some.
Stupid reporters. (Shakes head and walks away muttering.)
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