An investigation at an Army lab in Utah has found anthrax outside the primary containment area, prompting the service to launch another safety review at all nine Defense Department labs that handle dangerous agents.
Army Secretary John McHugh also announced Thursday that the military would ban the production, shipment and testing of any dangerous agents, live or inactivated, until the investigation concludes. The ban on work involving anthrax also remains in effect.
The Pentagon accidentally shipped live anthrax to labs across the country and around the world this year after procedures at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah failed to kill spores and realize that the spores were still live when shipped.
Including samples sent to secondary labs, the accidental shipments affected almost 200 labs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and seven foreign countries: Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany.
Defense Undersecretary Bob Work said in July that the accidental shipment of live spores was due to “institutional and procedural failures.”
Following the Pentagon’s initial 30-day investigation, the Army launched its own investigation to look at accountability and whether anyone could be held responsible for the accident. That investigation discovered anthrax outside of the primary containment area for the dangerous substance, but still within the special lab designated for these types of materials at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, the Army release said.
Each lab will report back on its findings from the additional safety review on all nine Defense Department labs within 10 days, the release said.
The release stresses that there was no danger to lab personnel or to the public from the most recent finding.
