U.S. labs mishandling deadly germs

[Didereaux]

Source: AP-Yahoo

WASHINGTON - American laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work.
...
The number of accidents has risen steadily. Through August, the most recent period covered in the reports obtained by the AP, labs reported 36 accidents and lost shipments during 2007 — nearly double the number reported during all of 2004.
...
The reports were so sensitive the Bush administration refused to release them under the Freedom of Information Act, citing an anti-bioterrorism law aimed at preventing terrorists from locating stockpiles of poisons and learning who handles them.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071002/ap_on_he_me/mishandling_germs;_ylt=AodAPozM5LhaPGam2zV0N_es0NUE

---

One can only hope they find that inoculated dead mouse...in the Oval Office.

[kestrel91316]

1. This is obviously all Clinton's fault.

[AdHocSolver]

2. This is part of Bush/Cheney's scheme to destroy government credibility, so as to "prove" ...

that we either have to privatize everything, since "the private sector can do it better", or we have to give king George more power to protect us from the "terrists". Either way, America loses.

(snip)

Research labs have worked for years to find cures and treatments for diseases. However, the expansion of the lab network has been dramatic since President Bush announced an upgrade of the nation's bio-warfare defense program five years ago. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funds much of the lab research and construction, was spending spent about $41 million on bio-defense labs in 2001. By last year, the spending had risen to $1.6 billion.

The number of labs approved by the government to handle the deadliest substances has nearly doubled to 409 since 2004. Labs are routinely inspected by federal regulators just once every three years, but accidents trigger interim inspections.

"It may be only a matter of time before our nation has a public health incident with potentially catastrophic results," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee. Stupak's panel has been investigating the lab incidents and will conduct a hearing Thursday.

......

Notice the pattern here. Expand government programs by throwing our tax dollars at private firms (most likely whose management are Republican donors), but do not provide extra funding for government oversight through such means as effective regular inspections. Another tactic is to put people in charge of government agencies who are either incompetent (FEMA's "Brownie") or openly hostile to the agency and desirous to destroy it from within (Gonzales at the Justice Department).

Then they declare that the inevitable "accidents" that occur can't be discussed, even by Congress, because of national security concerns (the "terrists" might find out how lax security is under Bush/Cheney). Of course, it is only the American right-wing who are in denial about how ill-served the country is under Republicans.

When the almost inevitable accident occurs, blame it on "terrists" (not on an incompetent setup) and demand that Congress give the Executive branch more power to take away our rights. More likely than not, the pathetic Congress will find excuses to give it to them.

[Redbear]

3. Who put dogs in charge of handling deadly germs?

Heck of a job, Yorkie.