WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee leaders today sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requesting more information on a series of lab incidents involving select agents, as reported by USA Today. The letter was sent by full committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA).
A recent USA Today article included redacted documents reporting laboratory incidents involving dangerous pathogens that can cause anthrax, Ebola, plague, or certain avian or flu virus strains. The committee has a history of conducting rigorous oversight of the Federal Select Agent Program and actively monitoring lab safety measures.
“…[T]he details in the article seem to indicate that most, if not all, of these incidents were not disclosed to the Committee. To fully understand the effectiveness of current CDC lab safety efforts, the Committee needs a complete picture of the lab safety record at the CDC in recent years," wrote Walden and Murphy."
Committee leaders continued, “To assist the Committee’s oversight efforts, we request that the CDC provide a briefing to Committee staff about the lab safety incidents reported in the January 4, 2017 USA Today article and any additional incidents covered in the 503 pages of documents that the CDC provided in response to USA Today’s FOIA request. The briefing would also cover the CDC tracking systems for lab safety incidents."
The committee leaders requested the briefing and information by Jan. 31, 2017.
