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DOD halts operations after anthrax contamination
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Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh has suspended operations at four laboratories that handle live and inactivated Bacillus anthracis and ordered an immediate safety review of all nine Department of Defense laboratories and facilities that handle biologic toxins, according to a statement.
The order expands on an existing moratorium of the production, handling, testing and shipment of inactivated anthrax. According to the statement, the Army found evidence of contamination at the Dugway Proving Ground Life Sciences Test Facility in Utah, although there has been no evidence of exposure to employees or risk to the general public.
Operations at the four facilities — Dugway; along with three sites in Maryland, Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center; the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; and the Naval Medical Research Center’s Biological Defense Research Directorate — will remain suspended until the review is complete, according to McHugh. The department also is monitoring 195 commercial and federal laboratories and academic institutions in the U.S., Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Norway and Switzerland, which may have been exposed after the incident in May.
As previously reported, 17 of 33 batches of B. anthracis spores delivered in “extremely low concentrations” of liquid and stored at Dugway tested positive for the regrowth or presence of live anthrax. According to the review, the irradiation protocols at the facility were too lax, with too short of a time between irradiation and testing for live spores.
The current safety review will ensure that all personnel handling live and inactivated agents and toxins are properly trained on laboratory safety procedures and follow standard operating procedures, such as record-keeping and maintaining inventories. The review also will ensure that equipment used to work with the substances are up-to-date. All labs must submit their findings to McHugh by Sept. 13, the statement said.
“I understand that these measures will affect ongoing research activities, and I expect to grant waivers in appropriate circumstances,” McHugh said.