Guest guest Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 > > Next, they'll want to force us to get vaccinated against all of them? > ========= > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061703271\ ..html>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR20090617\ 03271.html > Inventory Uncovers 9,200 More Pathogens > Laboratory Says Security Is Tighter, but Earlier Count Missed Dangerous Vials > > By > Washington Post Staff Writer > Thursday, June 18, 2009 > > An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's > infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had > not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising > concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing. > > After four months of searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators > at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in > Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been > included in a database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, > said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's deputy commander. > > The vials contained some dangerous pathogens, among them the Ebola > virus, anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents > such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the bacterium that > causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer drawers, > hadn't been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum > samples from hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War. > > Kortepeter likened the inventory to cleaning out the attic and said > he knew of no plans for an investigation into how the vials had been > left out of the database. " The vast majority of these samples were > working stock that were accumulated over decades, " he said, left > there by scientists who had retired or left the institute. > > " I can't say that nothing did [leave the lab], but I can say that we > think it's extremely unlikely, " Kortepeter said. > > Still, the overstock and the previous inaccuracy of the database > raised the possibility that someone could have taken a sample outside > the lab with no way for officials to know something was missing. > > " Nine thousand, two hundred undocumented samples is an > extraordinarily serious breach, " said H. Ebright, a professor > at Rutgers University who follows biosecurity. " A small number would > be a concern; 9,200 . . . at an institution that has been the focus > of intense scrutiny on this issue, that's deeply worrisome. Unacceptable. " > > The institute has been under pressure to tighten security in the wake > of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five people and sickened > 17. FBI investigators say they think the anthrax strain used in the > attacks originated at the Army lab, and its prime suspect, Bruce E. > Ivins, researched anthrax there. Ivins committed suicide last year > during an investigation into his activities. > > Kortepeter noted that since 2001 the lab has imposed multiple layers > of security to check people entering and leaving, that there are now > cameras in the labs, and that employees are subjected to a > reliability program and random inspections. > > " The bottom line is, we have a lot of buffers to prevent anybody who > shouldn't be getting into the laboratory, " Kortepeter said. > > Sam Edwin, the institute's inventory control officer, said most of > the samples found were vials with tiny amounts of pathogens that > would thaw quickly and die once they were taken out of a freezer, > making smuggling something off the base difficult. > > The probe began in February, when a problem accounting for Venezuelan > equine encephalitis virus triggered the suspension of most research > at the lab. A spot check in January found 20 samples of the virus in > a box of vials instead of the 16 listed in the institute's database. > Most work was stopped until the institute could take a thorough > inventory of its stock of viruses and bacteria. > > Edwin said about 50 percent of the samples that had been found were > destroyed. The rest were added to the catalog. Because the lab will > now conduct an inventory every year, " it's really less likely that we > will be in a situation like this again, " he said. > > Procedures have changed, too. Scientists who have worked at the lab > said that in the past, departing scientists turned over their > logbooks to their successors, but records were sometimes incomplete > or complex. As generations of scientists passed through, the > knowledge of what was in the freezers was lost. With a comprehensive > database, every sample is now tracked until it is destroyed or transferred. > > But some scientists are skeptical. Unlike uranium or chemical > weapons, pathogens are living materials that can replicate and die. A > small amount can easily be turned into a large amount. They said the > strict inventories slow their work without guaranteeing security. > > ===== > > In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is > distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior > interest in receiving the included information for research and > educational purposes. > > Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath > Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA > Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or > http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm > Vaccine Dangers, Childhood Disease Classes & Homeopathy Online/email > courses - next classes start May 20 & 21 > http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm or > http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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