NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Dingell, Stupak Announce Date for Hearing on
Biosafety Labs

Recent Incidents Underscore Risks Associated with Labs

Washington, D.C. – Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, today announced the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Thursday, October 4, 2007, to examine the risks associated with the recent proliferation of Biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratories in the United States.

“It appears that there has been a surge in construction of biosafety labs over the past several years which have been financed, at least in part, with federal funds,” said Dingell. “Yet, little information is available about the number of labs being operated in the U.S. and whether they are safely run. While the research conducted at these labs is certainly valuable, we must make sure that it does not pose a risk to the public health.”

Plans for the hearing, entitled “Germs, Viruses, and Secrets: The Silent Proliferation of Bio-Laboratories in the United States,” were first announced last month at the outset of the Committee’s investigation of bio-research laboratories.

Biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratories (BSL 3 and 4) are facilities where research is conducted on highly infectious viruses and other biological agents that can cause serious injury or death. Some of the world’s most exotic and dangerous diseases are handled at BSL 3 or 4 facilities, including foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, and the Ebola virus.

“The potential human health risks involved in this kind of research dictate that we take a close look at whether these biosafety labs are being designed, constructed, and operated safely,” said Stupak. “Is there a point at which there are so many labs doing this research that you actually increase the chances of a catastrophic release of a deadly disease? We want to know the answer or whether anyone in the Administration has even seriously considered the question.”

The possibility of infection by dangerous biological agents is real, whether the cause is accidental or intentional. In recent weeks, investigators learned after the fact that a researcher at Texas A&M University had been sickened by brucella, and others infected with Q fever. Separately, it recently came to light that workers at the University of Texas labs had been infected with shigellosis and tularemia, and another exposed to anthrax. The anthrax attacks of 2001 that killed five people and infected 17 others in the U.S. remain unsolved.

Witnesses for the hearing will include representatives of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and others to be announced.

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