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The discovery included vials of ricin in
addition to pathogens that cause botulism, the plague and a rare tropical
infection. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
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Multiple agencies report
that infectious, deadly diseases and toxins like plague, botulism and ricin
have been uncovered at government laboratories in the United States. The
discovery also revealed some of the vials had been stored for over 60 years.
The revelations come
after officials from the National Institute of Health (NIH) made a sweep of
government owned laboratories in July after they found smallpox. The Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) also admitted it had found vials at a lab at the
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Worryingly, inspectors
also uncovered toxins and viruses, which had been lying around since 1954, with
staff ignorant of the fact. The agency began an intensive investigation of all
its facilities after a scientist in July found vials of smallpox dating from
the 1950s, along with other contagious viruses and bacteria that had been
stored and forgotten in one lab on the NIH's campus. The NIH said the
discoveries were made between July 29 and August 27. The information was only
made public on Friday.
“These things were stored
in locations where they should not have been stored,” said Alfred Johnson,
director of the NIH’s office of research services, which is coordinating the
searches at government labs, the Washington Post reported.
Johnson also added that
the NIH conducts research “on
the most dangerous materials out there. All of these were found in containers
that were intact, and there have been no exposures. It reminds us, just like my
garage at home that from time to time, we need to check.”
Two highly contagious
bacterial vials were found, which can cause plague. The plague has caused
millions of deaths throughout history, but has now been localized to
sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Clinical Center’s Department of Medicine,
which comes under the umbrella of the NIH.
However, it was the
discovery of ricin, which made people take notice of the scandal. The sample
was in a historical collection dating from 1914. The toxin is extremely
poisonous if inhaled, injected or ingested. In June 2013, a woman from Texas
was arrested after mailing three letters containing ricin to President Barack
Obama, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the director of Mayors Against
Illegal Guns, federal authorities stated.
Researchers also
uncovered two vials of the nerve toxin that causes botulism, a
muscle-paralyzing disease, in a lab of the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, Johnson said. Researchers are restricted to quantities
below half a milligram, which they can use for tests, but the total found was
well above the legal limit.
“The finding of these
agents and toxins highlights the need for constant vigilance in monitoring
laboratory materials in compliance with federal regulations on biosafety,” NIH Director Francis
Collins wrote in an email to employees on Friday.
Speaking to the
Washington Post in late July, the director of the FDA Margaret Hamburg was
asked whether the agency had found any additional misplaced pathogens during
the ongoing sweep of its labs.
“I’m happy to report that
in the cold room inventories across the agency, we have not found any other
stocks of unexpected hazardous biological materials,” she said at the time.
Meanwhile, Stephan Ostroff,
who is the FDA’s acting chief scientist added, “There’s always a chance that something will be where it’s
not supposed to be, and we want to make sure that’s not the case.”
The agency stated that
staff were never put at risk, despite highly dangerous toxins being found
unexpectedly in the laboratories.
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