OT:CDC biolab not ready after 2 1/2 years

[Guest guest]

CDC biolab not ready after 2 1/2 years

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta,GA*

By ALISON YOUNG

Published on: 05/15/08

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/05/15/cdclabs_051

5.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new maximum-

security laboratories in Atlanta were supposed to open in the fall

of 2005.

But the suite of Biosafety Level 4 labs — designed to contain the

world's most dangerous germs — still haven't been certified as ready

to operate. The $214 million building they're in was completed 2 1/2

years ago.

CDC officials say nothing is amiss. But the delays have raised

concerns about potential construction or design flaws in labs

destined to handle smallpox and Ebola viruses.

" The CDC's new lab has been troubled almost from its inception, "

said U.S. Rep. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House

Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees federal agencies

and has been examining bioterror lab safety nationally.

" Its history of contracting problems, design flaws and construction

delays does not engender confidence and is worthy of a closer look

by this committee, " Dingell said this week.

CDC officials no longer will estimate when the labs will open. They

prefer to say simply: as soon as possible.

" Commissioning a lab, particularly on this scale, is a complex

process, " said Stephan Monroe, the CDC official who oversees the

division of scientists who will work in the unopened labs. " We won't

take any shortcuts, jeopardize our workers or the safety of the

public. "

CDC scientists are still able to use other nearby BSL-4 labs, built

in 1988. CDC officials say they need the additional lab space to do

more experiments, but said work is not going undone as a result of

the delays.

Construction began in 2001 on the new 368,000-square-foot building —

called the Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory — at the CDC's

Clifton Road campus. The building — including the wing containing

the BSL-4 labs — was completed in September 2005. CDC officials

signed off on the work of its construction contractors at that time.

While the BSL-4 labs remained unoccupied, about 500 CDC scientists

and staff moved into the rest of the building, which includes other

labs that work with less dangerous pathogens.

CDC initially said the BSL-4 labs would open in the fall of 2005,

then the summer of 2006, then by the end of 2007.

" It's clear that, looking back, we communicated a date that was

clearly unrealistic knowing what we know now, " said Monroe, director

of the CDC's Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases. But CDC

officials said the delays aren't unusual.

Yet, at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, it took

less than seven months for its BSL-4 lab to become operational after

construction was finished on that building in late 2003, said

Holbrook, the lab's BSL-4 director.

Ebright, a biosafety expert at Rutgers University in New

Jersey, questioned whether the delay at the CDC's labs is the result

of trying to resolve significant problems.

" The extent of this delay suggests there may be fundamental issues

regarding infrastructure or safety or security that need to be

addressed, " said Ebright.

CDC officials dispute any major problems. Yet, last June, the

building housing the CDC's unopened BSL-4 labs suffered an hourlong

power outage when backup power failed after a lightning strike. The

BSL-4 suite lost its negative air pressure, one of several safety

features that prevent air and germs from flowing out. CDC officials

say the backup power problem has been fixed.

Nearly a year ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution requested the

CDC release records about the power outage and the safety of the new

BSL-4 labs under the Freedom of Information Act. The agency hasn't

yet released any documents.

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the BSL-4 delays are not due to any

critical safety or construction problems. Changes made since the CDC

took possession of the building from contractors

involve " enhancements " for additional worker safety and convenience

and some additional security measures.

" It's not that the building would not have been operational without

them. These were steps we took to make the lab better — more

efficient and safer than the original design, " Skinner said.

The cost of the changes was not immediately available, Skinner said,

but came from the CDC's maintenance and repair budgets.

Skinner and Monroe said the physical changes in the labs are

complete, but now additional time is needed to complete inspections

and paperwork for certification to work with bioterror agents.

Dingell said he's concerned that the CDC is the federal agency

charged with doing these lab inspections — even when it involves its

own labs. He said it " makes for a peculiar arrangement in which the

agency is inspecting itself — a built-in conflict of interest. "

The CDC officials disagree there's a conflict, saying inspectors

work for a different arm than the one that will operate the labs.

Dingell, his committee and the Government Accountability Office have

been investigating whether the proliferation of public and private

bioterrorism labs poses public safety risks. In recent weeks, he

also has been among several members of Congress who have questioned

the CDC's delay in releasing a report on environmental dangers in

Great Lakes states. Dingell is a Democrat from Michigan, one of the

states in the report.

To reach staff writer Alison Young call 404-526-7372.