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 The report follows a sweeping review of the government's biosafety
and biosecurity practices, and includes specific recommendations and
deadlines for laboratories to improve their practices.
It was addressed to top officials at 16 federal agencies, including
the U.S. Department of Defense, which this past July was criticized
for repeated mishandling of anthrax at a U.S. Army laboratory in
Utah.
In 2014, there were similar breaches by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention involving anthrax and bird flu, and the
discovery of vials of smallpox from the 1950s in a storage closet in
an unsecured Food and Drug Administration lab on the National
Institutes of Health's campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
Recommendations in the report, issued by Lisa Monaco, assistant to
the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, and John
Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology,
stressed the need for transparency, swift reporting of incidents,
accountability to the public and strong inventory control measures.
"These principles emphasize a commitment to protecting Americans and
the global community, and ensuring a system designed to prevent
dangerous actors from accessing or misusing sensitive biological
material," they wrote in a blog post.
While the recommendations are focused on federal agencies that
handle and transfer dangerous agents, Monaco and Holdren said "these
principles should also be applied to work that is conducted with any
biological agent that could pose a serious threat to public health
or agriculture."
Lab safety consultant Sean Kaufman of Behavioral-Based Improvement
Solutions said the recommendations offer a "comprehensive plan" for
reducing risks, but "fall extremely short" in providing the training
and development opportunities required to change the culture of lab
safety.
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Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health
Laboratories, however, was pleased with the guidelines, which
include many of his group's recommendations, including the call for
greater transparency.
In the past, he said, incidents were "kept secret in the name of
national security," which prevented scientists from learning from
the mistakes of others.
"These are the things we've been asking for," Becker said, adding
that "the lab community needs to hold the federal agencies
accountable for action."
The White House also plans to hold semi-annual reviews to ensure the
recommendations are implemented.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Diane Craft)
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