WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO) issued the following statement today on the joint Department of Defense (DoD) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) press conference regarding the recent reports of live anthrax being shipped to 51 labs in 17 states and 3 foreign countries, well beyond the initial reports. The bipartisan leaders recently sent letters to CDC Director Tom Frieden and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter regarding the initial reports that live anthrax was shipped to nine states and South Korea.
Upton, Pallone, Murphy, and DeGette commented, “Just when you thought the situation could not get any worse, we are now learning that live anthrax was shipped to nearly twice as many states and three times as many countries as originally reported. We remain deeply concerned by the issue of inactivation protocols and procedures for studying dangerous pathogens in our federal research laboratories, an issue that this committee has been overseeing since similar incidents occurred at the CDC more than a year ago. The committee will be briefed by the CDC and DoD in the coming days and we look forward to receiving regular updates as the comprehensive review of these troubling and unacceptable incidents moves forward. These continued lapses must be fixed before someone is seriously harmed."
