LEADERS DEMAND BIOTERROR LAB INFO

House panel wants details on sanctions

Bipartisan leaders of a congressional oversight committee, citing a USA TODAY Network investigation, demand that federal regulators provide the names of research laboratories that have faced sanctions for safety violations while working with potential bioterror viruses and bacteria, according to a letter the committee sent Monday.

USA TODAY’s “Biolabs in Your Backyard” investigation revealed more than 100 labs have faced enforcement actions since 2003 because of serious safety violations while working with “select agent” pathogens such as anthrax. Yet lab oversight is cloaked in secrecy, making it difficult to determine the effectiveness of the federal inspection and enforcement program. Even when labs commit the most egregious safety violations, the investigation found, they often are allowed to keep operating and their names are kept secret by regulators.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce wants details about labs that have been fined or faced other enforcement actions, including suspension or revocation of federal authorizations to work with “select agents,” the government’s term for viruses, bacteria and toxins that could be used by terrorists.

The letter, which sets a deadline of July 20, was sent to the Health and Human Services inspector general, which handles enforcement actions for lab in- spectors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The committee, the letter says, “is examining the adequacy of federal select agent oversight” in the wake of recent revelations that an Army lab in Utah mistakenly sent live anthrax, instead of killed specimens, to labs in the USA and abroad for 10 years. It notes that the USA TODAY investigation, published in May, reported that since 2003, the CDC had referred 79 labs for potential enforcement actions, and more than $2.4 million in fines were levied against 19 organizations.

USA TODAY found that some labs have repeatedly been referred for enforcement actions. Five labs have had “multiple referrals” for enforcement. Two labs have been kicked out of the program, and five labs have been suspended from doing any select agent research, the CDC told the newspaper. Seven labs were in a federal performance improvement program. Neither the CDC nor the HHS inspector general would name names

The committee’s letter seeks the names of labs that have been suspended or kicked out of the Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees labs working with potential bioterror pathogens.

Don White, a spokesman for the HHS inspector general’s office, said the office received the letter, will give it careful consideration and take appropriate action. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency will provide the inspector general’s office with whatever information it needs to respond to the House committee’s inquiry.

The Federal Select Agent Program is jointly run by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Beyond the labs the CDC referred to the HHS inspector general, dozens more have faced regulatory actions from the USDA.

More than 100 labs have faced enforcement actions since 2003 because of serious safety violations while working with ... pathogens such as anthrax.