Anthrax Case Renews Questions on Bioterror

August 4, 2008 | Source: New York Times

Has the unprecedented boom in biodefense research made the country less secure by multiplying the places and people with access to dangerous germs?

FBI investigators have long speculated that the motive for the attacks, if carried out by a biodefense insider like Dr. Bruce Ivins, might have been to draw public attention to a dire threat, attracting money and prestige to a once-obscure field. In fact, almost $50 billion in federal money has been spent to build new laboratories, develop vaccines and stockpile drugs.

Nationwide, an estimated 14,000 people work at about 400 laboratories and have permission to work with so-called select agents, which could be used in a bioterror attack. With so many people involved, there is insufficient federal oversight of biodefense facilities to make sure the laboratories follow security rules and report accidents that might threaten lab workers or lead to a release that might endanger the public, according to GOA investigator Keith Rhodes.