CDC to Review Inspections Rules for Labs

ILC Dover technician William Ayrey is seen in a self-contained biosuit in Frederica, Del., Monday Oct. 1, 2007. Suits made by ILC Dover, and other manufacturers, are worn in the highest security level laboratories that work with dangerous germs and toxins. Suits such as these protect workers from organisms and poisons so dangerous that illnesses they cause have no cure. (AP Photo/Gary Emeigh) (Gary Emeigh - AP)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government does not conduct surprise inspections of laboratories handling the world's most dangerous organisms and poisons, but regulators said Thursday they may change their tactics.

Officials of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention said they're reviewing the policy, following the failure of inspectors to learn of worker infections last year at Texas A&M University.

"As a rule, we do not do surprise inspections," said Dr. Robbin Weyant, director of Select Agents and Toxins at the CDC. "The issue of unannounced inspections is something we need to consider."

The CDC inspects high-security research laboratories only once every three years, although there are additional inspections when an accident is reported or a lab changes its research.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, pointed out that CDC inspectors who visited the Texas A&M lab last year _ shortly after a worker was exposed to Brucella bacteria _ didn't catch the problem.

The lab was required to report the problem to the government immediately, but did not do so until this year.

"Without a surprise inspection, how are you going to know?" Stupak asked.

While CDC inspectors didn't learn of the worker exposure, a watchdog group did. The Sunshine Project, through the Texas open records law, discovered not only the Brucella infection but the exposure of three other workers to the agent that causes Q Fever.

Dr. Richard Besser, the CDC's anti-terrorism coordinator, told the House hearing the agency is looking at ways to improve its inspection program. It may change the composition of inspection teams and increase the frequency of inspections.

The interim president of Texas A&M, Dr. Eddie Davis, said the school was committed "to research, to safety and to compliance." He did not oppose surprise inspections.

"We should have a program that can endure any type of inspection, announced or unannounced," he testified.

Davis said the Sunshine Project's open records request triggered a much more thorough document search than the one sought by the CDC inspectors.