Ring around the rosy
Plague Infested Mice Escape New Jersey LabState Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said mice infected with plague die "very fast," so "the risk to the public ... is probably slim to none. We didn't think -- nor did the CDC think -- there was any public health threat..."
Infectious-disease experts... called the episode ... very troubling -- raising serious issues of security and control...
Richard H. Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist and a critic of the government's rapid expansion of bio-terrorism labs... noted there has been a series of serious incidents across the country involving accidental human infections at several of the labs working with agents like anthrax and plague. At the same time, he said, federal guidelines call for only minimal security -- a lock on the lab door and a lock on the sample container and cage.
"You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities," he said.
Even Better:
New Jersey... does not know how many labs in the state are actually conducting experiments involving lethal bacteria or viruses.
It was just Wednesday that the Emergency Health Powers Act was signed into law, requiring all people, companies or institutions working with or possessing disease strains that can be used for biological weapons to register with the state Department of Health and Senior Servicers.
Do you feel safe yet? I'm not sure who I'm worried more about now, the terrorists or us? The events of the last couple of weeks have not enhanced my faith in our federal government's (especially the Department of Homeland Security's) ability to do their job.
posted by WunEyedDog @ 2:13 PM
2 Comments:
ashes ashes...
I don't know much about medical testing, but I would imagine that you'd be careful with deadly diseases. That' just me.
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