A new report on lab safety at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created by a committee of external experts calls into question the credibility of the agency. The committee called the agency's commitment to safety "inconsistent and insufficient," and went on to say that its "laboratory safety training is inadequate."
The report was put together by an external group of eleven experts in biosafety, laboratory science and research. According to the report, they say they are "very concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility."
The agency created the advisory gropu to improve lab safety in July after two mishaps and other issues were discovered during procedural reviews.
The first incident occurred in May in which avian influenza samples, believed not to be dangerous, were accidentally mixed with the deadly H5N1 influenza virus and shipped to a USDA lab.
The second incident followed just a month later in June when employees in a bioterrorism lab working with anthrax were found to be at risk because of a failure to follow proper sterilization techniques. The head of the lab resigned after the incident.
If these two weren't enough, while the advisory group was already hard at work trying to reduce lab safety risk, in December employees were potentially exposed to the Ebola virus when a technician mistakenly transported the wrong specimens from a high-level to a low level lab.
After each incident, the CDC conducted internal investigations and implemented several new recommendations such as the addition of cameras to the labs and certificates being required to transport some samples.
The report summarizes the groups findings and offers recommendations following visits to CDC labs, meetings with staff and a survey about the laboratory safety culture at the CDC.
The report recommends all CDC labs go through an external review and accreditation process. In addition, the committee recommend that the CDC provide funding for lab safety programs and standardized training, implementing risk assessments, establishing a system of responsible science and accountability, rewards for staff and even hiring a director specifically in charge of safety.
In response to the recommendations, CDC Chief Operating Officer Sherri Berger said in a statement, "It's critical that we continue to solicit feedback on how we can improve our operations, especially functions as critical as lab safety. We brought this group of external experts together over the summer to assist us with identifying and implementing solutions, of which many are already underway."
