“By any measure, this was a massive institutional failure with a potentially risky biotoxin”, Bob Work, deputy defense secretary at the DOD, said during a press conference.
“A single root cause for shipping viable BA (anthrax) samples could not be identified”, according to the review, but found “inherent deficiencies in protocols”, namely in the radiation dosing levels, irradiation testing and contamination prevention procedures.
The investigation found that live spores were sent from Dugway to labs in 20 states and the District of Columbia, plus Japan, Britain, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany. There were no connected illnesses, but at least 21 people who had direct contact with the spores were treated with antibiotics as a precaution.
Work extended a moratorium first imposed in May on the anthrax testing program at Dugway, three other military research centers and all participating civilian labs around the world. It is located on 800,000 acres about 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
No national standards for the deactivation of live B. anthracis exist, and biohazard protocol is also not standardized between the four facilities because they report to different government entities.
The House Armed Services Committee quickly criticized the report for whitewashing the Pentagon’s role.
The DOD conducted a 30-day review of its four facilities that deactivate live anthrax for distribution to laboratories less equipped to handle it.
It states, workers in the defense lab followed their own protocols correctly. It was owing to these insufficient detection procedures that some samples were still active before shipments.
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