The Obama administration should designate a governmental watchdog that would establish uniform rules governing the planning, construction, accreditation and operation of the nation's most sensitive biological defense laboratories, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended in a report issued yesterday report (see GSN, Sept. 9).
The oversight entity -- designated by the president's national security adviser with input from Cabinet-level officials and the National Intelligence Council -- would first identify how many high-containment facilities are needed, where they should be built and what should be their focus in preparing for biological threats.
The body would also consider dangers associated with the continued growth of the U.S. biodefense sector, which has ballooned steadily since 2001, and assess how much scrutiny the sites need to operate safely and effectively, the Associated Press reported.
High-containment facilities encompass those designated at Biosafety Level 3, which work with potentially lethal materials, and those at Biosafety Level 4, where research is conducted on diseases for which there are no known cures, according to AP.
The United States relied for decades on only two Biosafety Level 4 laboratories. Another three opened between 1990 and 2000, and work on seven more sites has been initiated since 2001.
The exact number of BSL-3 sites is not known, according to the GAO report. More than 1,300 such facilities by last year were registered as handling "select" disease agents (David Dishneau, Associated Press/Boston Herald, Sept. 21).
Some elements of auditing programs already in place at the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments "are dependent upon entities monitoring themselves and reporting incidents to federal regulators," the report notes. "Since 2001, personnel reliability programs have been established to counter insider risks, but their cost, effectiveness, and impact has not been evaluated" (U.S. Government Accountability Office release, Sept. 21).