Republican members of Congress requested the administration submit documents showing results of an investigation related to an Atlanta anthrax safety breach that reportedly exposed the virus to 80 people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the contamination occurred sometime between June 6 and June 13, when workers at an Atlanta lab reportedly violated some safety protocols while transferring samples to at least three different facilities. The lab allegedly did not have necessary tools to handle the samples correctly, and workers were said to be not wearing any protective gear.
While there were only seven researchers who came in direct contact with the anthrax samples, the CDC provided antibiotic and screening procedures to all employees of the lab.
The Senate panel previously asked the CDC to submit a detailed written explanation about the incident.
On Wednesday, the Republicans from the House of Energy and Commerce Committee sent a series of letters to the CDC asking for the results of the agency's investigation and audits regarding the safety breach. They wanted to find out the exact violations of the workers for a review of the existing protocols to prevent another incident from happening again.
The group of lawmakers also asked for some information from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Legislators were reportedly gathering resources for a hearing scheduled on July 16 to be attended by CDC Director Thomas Frieden.
"How many suspected exposures to select agents and/or toxins have been reported at CDC since October 2007? How many actual exposures have been reported," the letter, signed by chairman Fred Upton from Michigan, subcommittee chairman Tim Murphy, and vice chairman Michael Burgess, read.
No Democratic member of Congress signed the letter. California Rep. Henry Waxman told Reuters he was not aware of the letter until it was submitted to the CDC.
CDC spokesman Tom Skinner explained the agency is willing to work with the subcommittee regarding their investigation.
