WHOOPS

CDC: Yes, We Are Negligent

After anthrax and H5N1 scares.

Please keep better watch over deadly substances and viruses, CDC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has admitted to a dangerously lax culture in its laboratories that has allowed incidents like a mishandling of anthrax that left dozens of employees exposed, as detailed in a recent report. Now, calls for an outside investigation have been prompted by another disastrous blunder: CDC workers accidentally shipped the deadly H5N1 strain of influenza to a Department of Agriculture staffer and didn’t alert top management to it for a month. In response, agency head Dr. Thomas Frieden ordered an overseer of laboratory safety and closed the flu and bioterror laboratories, along with suspending all shipments to high-security labs.