CommunityEditor
08-21-2008, 10:43 PM
WASHINGTON — Military leaders have suspended some activities at biological research laboratories to review safety rules for some of the world’s deadliest germs and toxins, including how they are shipped through FedEx and other civilian carriers.
Defense officials said the action is part of a larger review ordered when a researcher at an Army lab apparently committed suicide last month after being told he would be charged in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Navy and Air Force officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that they are temporarily halting shipments of dangerous biological agents to and from their medical and research labs.
They also said that during the review, they won’t allow anyone to handle such materials inside their labs unless the employee is enrolled in a special program to do so — or monitored by someone else who is enrolled.
The Army has six, Navy five and Air Force two labs where biomedical research is done and employees work with a range of dangerous materials such as anthrax and germs that cause Avian flu and encephalitis.
All such Navy material “is accounted for and none has been compromised. A thorough inventory will be a part of this stand down,” said Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a Navy spokesman, using the military term for a suspension of activities.
The Air Force, which said its labs handle bacterial, viral, fungal and toxin agent samples, said its samples were all accounted for as well.
Davis said Navy Secretary Donald Winter had ordered the suspension of activities and review “out of an abundance of caution” and to make sure the handling of sensitive biological material is safe.
Air Force spokesman Maj. Richard Johnson said the same was true for his service, adding that neither of the Air Force labs had made any shipments of dangerous biological materials since 2002, and one had accepted only two shipments since then.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_militarybiolabs_082108/
Defense officials said the action is part of a larger review ordered when a researcher at an Army lab apparently committed suicide last month after being told he would be charged in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Navy and Air Force officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that they are temporarily halting shipments of dangerous biological agents to and from their medical and research labs.
They also said that during the review, they won’t allow anyone to handle such materials inside their labs unless the employee is enrolled in a special program to do so — or monitored by someone else who is enrolled.
The Army has six, Navy five and Air Force two labs where biomedical research is done and employees work with a range of dangerous materials such as anthrax and germs that cause Avian flu and encephalitis.
All such Navy material “is accounted for and none has been compromised. A thorough inventory will be a part of this stand down,” said Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a Navy spokesman, using the military term for a suspension of activities.
The Air Force, which said its labs handle bacterial, viral, fungal and toxin agent samples, said its samples were all accounted for as well.
Davis said Navy Secretary Donald Winter had ordered the suspension of activities and review “out of an abundance of caution” and to make sure the handling of sensitive biological material is safe.
Air Force spokesman Maj. Richard Johnson said the same was true for his service, adding that neither of the Air Force labs had made any shipments of dangerous biological materials since 2002, and one had accepted only two shipments since then.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_militarybiolabs_082108/