A laboratory managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was secretly reprimanded and suspended by the federal government for failing to adhere to bioterror pathogen-processing standards.
A report released Tuesday found that CDC labs have been cited on six occasions for serious or repeated violations for how they processed viruses, bacteria and toxins that are heavily regulated due to their ability to be used as bio-weapons.
Select parts of the suspended lab had been shut down in 2007 for mishandling the transfer of an unnamed virus, but reopened in 2010.
The CDC and Department of Agriculture had held off on naming the labs that repeatedly broke standards under the Federal Select Agent Program, which regulates government, military, university and private labs that work with substances such as anthrax, plague and Ebola.
Tuesday’s findings draw questions about the oversight role of the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services in light of the continuing violations.
