The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to hire a lab safety chief after a recent Ebola scare with one of the agency's own scientists.
The hiring of a high-level safety position was in the works for at least a few months. Talks about the need for a position such as this began over the summer when anthrax and bird flu specimens were mishandled in CDC labs last year, reported Reuters.
The specimen incidents over the summer, paired with the CDC scientist's possible Ebola scare are calling attention to the safeness of the agency's 1,000 laboratories and facilities across America.
"The person selected will be empowered to identify problems, establish plans to solve them, and hold programs throughout CDC accountable for follow-up," CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said to Reuters, confirming that a search for an agency-wide chief of laboratory science and safety was under way.
The search for a lab safety chief is being led by Dr. Rima Khabbaz, director of CDC's Office of Infectious Diseases.
"This is going to bring a focus to lab science and safety that has been really needed for two decades," Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, a national group representing state and municipal public health laboratories, said to Reuters.
The CDC has not said when they expect to fill the new position.
