WASHINGTON, DC - Today, 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) sent letters to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) requesting documents relating to biosafety inspections that have been conducted at Dugway Proving Ground since Jan. 1, 2006. According to the most recent reports, live anthrax was inadvertently shipped from Dugway to 69 labs in 19 states and 5 foreign countries.
The bipartisan leaders commented, “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. We understand that Dugway was inspected a number of times in the past decade by the CDC’s Division of Select Agent and Toxins as part of the federal select agent program. We are requesting copies of all inspection records, referrals of enforcement action to the HHS OIG, and any corrective action plans issued to Dugway. We hope that the documents will help shed light on how these unacceptable safety lapses could have occurred, and how to prevent them from happening again in the future."
Today’s letters build on the bipartisan request for briefings sent in May of this year, following the initial reports of these live anthrax shipments.
Read the letter to CDC here.
Read the letter to HHS OIG here.
