- Hello Jeff - I have been thinking about the case of the
6 lab scientists at Harvard Medical School's prestigious pathology lab.
-
- First of all, consider all the hasty upgrades to BSL
3 and BSL 4 at many of the nation's top Universities. Was the lack
of adequate security at Harvard pathology lab ultimately the cause of the
sodium azide poisoning of 6 microbiologists? And how can we be sure
that the BSL 4 labs crawling with deadly pathogens for which there are
no known cures or preventive vaccines or measures are safe from theft or
bioterrorism?
-
- The simple answer is that we cannot be sure that an incident
will not occur.
-
- Such events are more likely to occur on a University
campus then at a government or commercial laboratory. The University,
traditionally, has more people in and out of the laboratories than a government
or commercial lab and the University has considerably less security than
government and military facilities. Students at these Universities
come from all over the globe and many from countries that are no friend
of America.
-
- Furthermore, Harvard has not mentioned if any pathogens
have gone missing during the time that the lab scientists became ill and
had to leave the lab for the hospital. The first thing they should have
done was to lock down the building and begin an invetory of all chemicals
and pathogens.
-
- I also find it highly suspect - and highly dangerous
- that the University took TWO MONTHS to notify the public and the University
students of the poisoning crime. Make no mistake, it was a crime. Even
the scientists who were poisoned and the Toxicologists who investigated
the case feel that the poisoning was intentional.
-
- This means that the poisoning is a crime, attempted murder
and assault and should have been investigated by the proper authorities.
It was not up to the University to investigate. The Police, the FBI and
Homeland Security should all be looking into this case. As I mentioned,
this was a serious breach at a laboratory which contains chemicals and
pathogens that could be used as weapons of mass destructon.
-
- Why is Homeland Security failing us again? Why don't
they insist on criminal investigation?
-
- If Universities of "higher learning" and researching
of pathogens cannot protect their own workers, how can they ask the neighboring
community to allow them to upgrade labs and study pathogens for which there
are no known cures or preventive measures? The answer is, if they don't
have the security in place to protect workers and safeguard pathogens,
they should not ask the surrounding community for the privilege of upgrading
labs. And the communities in question need to fight these upgrades
to the wall.
-
- Patty
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural
Economics Univ of West Indies Please visit my "Emerging Diseases"
message board at: http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php Also
my new website: http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/ Zhan le Devlesa tai
sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health
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