Airflow vexes CDC bioterror lab
A $214 million bioterrorism lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta had repeated problems with airflow systems designed to prevent the release of infectious agents, government documents and internal e-mails show.
While the agency says no one has been infected, a biosafety expert says the problems appear to be major violations of laboratory operating standards.
The problematic Biosafety Level 3 labs can be used for experiments involving anthrax, dangerous flu strains, the SARS coronavirus, monkeypox and other microbes that could be used as bioweapons.
In February, air from inside a potentially contaminated lab briefly blew outward into a “clean” corridor where visitors were not wearing protective gear, according to internal emails. Animals in the lab had not yet been infected at the time of the incident, the records say.
The CDC “will do anything . . . to hide the fact that we have serious problems with the airflow and containment in this whole building,” CDC animal resources biologist Kismet Scarborough wrote in an April 9 email to agency officials.
In 2010, scientists working with poxviruses, such as monkeypox, said they “don’t want to go into that facility because they don’t feel comfortable with the way it is currently designed,” according to minutes from a February 2010 meeting. CDC safety manager William Howard, in the minutes, said the building can’t remain as is and if a lab inspector “finds out air is moving this direction, they will shut this place down.”
The CDC refused interviews. In a statement, the CDC said no germs were released and no one was injured. Experiments are “done in an environment with highly skilled staff, technical equipment, and safety systems that unfortunately, at times, experience challenges.” The CDC says the building’s redundant systems ensure that safety is not compromised.
Rutgers University biosafety expert Richard Ebright said the problems are the type that the CDC’s inspectors “would flag as major violations” at non-CDC facilities.