A Senate panel stated that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must provide a detailed explanation regarding the exposure of its employees to live anthrax.
Last week, the CDC admitted that about 84 of their Atlanta workers were exposed to Bacillus anthracis after violating some safety protocols. The contamination in the labs may have occurred sometime between June 6 and June 13.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee sent a letter to CDC Director Tom Friedman asking the agency to write an explanation regarding the details of the breach.
"We request a detailed explanation of what happened, why established safety protocols were not followed or were insufficient to prevent such an incident," the letter said, as quoted by Reuters.
It further stated that this breach in safety protocol put the health and lives of the CDC in danger. All employees who may have handled the samples were notified and given antibiotics. The investigators also collected samples from the labs before decontamination.
An investigation was conducted, and results showed that the BioSafety Level 3 Facility violated some safety procedures.
The CDC imposed a protocol requiring employees to put the samples first in an incubator and let them sit for 48 hours before killing them. During the 48-hour incubation period, the staff was advised to check the sample for any signs of life. The investigation showed that the staff took out the samples only after 24 hours of incubation.
The letter from the Senate panel stated that they were worried because it took at least seven days before the health institute learned and acted upon the breach. In the letter, the panel requested for all relevant information that could explain why the breach occurred and the protocols placed by the agency during crises like this.
The Senate Panel on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was the governing body that oversees the operations of biomedical research facilities such as the CDC.
