In light of the recent anthrax scare at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters in Atlanta as well as the vials of smallpox found in a Food and Drug Administration Laboratory, CDC Director Tom Frieden released an After-Action Report regarding such lapses in safety issues.
The CDC's Office of Scientific Integrity was established to ensure the agency's compliance with federal laws, regulations, and policies. They have six main functional areas that strive to achieve this goal, including the Animal Care and Use Program Office (ACUPO), the Human Research Protection Office (HRPO), the Information Collection Review Office (ICRO), the Privacy and Confidentiality Unit, the Public Health Ethics Unit, and the Training Unit.
According to the CDC publication, "Report on the Potential Exposure to Anthrax," the agency's director enumerated the entirety of the anthrax incident, including what happened, why it happened, and what the agency has done since it occurred. In speaking during a conference call with reporters, he was not very happy about the CDC's questionable incidents.
"These events should never have happened," said Frieden in this Washington Post article. "The American people may be wondering whether we're doing what we need to do to keep them safe and to keep our workers safe. I'm disappointed, and frankly I'm angry about it."
Prior to the anthrax incident, the CDC discovered that shipments of "highly pathogenic" H5N1 influenza virus were improperly sent from the CDC to a US Department of Agriculture laboratory in Georgia on March 13. However, the infraction wasn't reported until six weeks later and Friden considered it the most distressing discovery of the five total incidents in the past decade. As a result of these two incidents, the CDC has shut down the two laboratories where the events took place.
The other three incidents were not mentioned or elaborated upon in the report, but Frieden says that the CDC has already implemented or is in the process of implementing key recommendations mentioned in the report that will prevent such occurrences from happening in the future, which are specifically dealing with the anthrax issue right now. According to Frieden, the agency will establish a CDC-wide single point of accountability for laboratory safety; the Bioterrorism Rapid Response and Technology (BRRAT) Laboratory will not conduct work with any agents until a series of reviews and approvals are completed; appropriate personnel action will be taken; all inactivation procedures for labs working with select agents and other pathogens will be carefully reviewed and updated as needed; the agency will establish an incident command structure to respond more efficiently; and the implications for use of select agents will be carefully reviewed.
It's reassuring that the director of such an important government agency is holding his post accountable for prior mishaps, while also vowing to prevent any such events from happening in the future.
You can read more about CDC director Tom Frieden's report in this CDC press release.
