Foot in Mouth : Porton Down - as biosecure as Pirbright
Mike Dobson | 09.08.2007 10:26 | Animal Liberation | Bio-technology | Health | South Coast | World
News-Medical.Net reports that the two Pirbright labs have the same level of security as the germ warfare defence establishment at Porton Down on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
The Health and Safety Executive is shortly to release the findings of its preliminary investigation which appears to have pinned the source of the Foot and Mouth disease {viral vesicular disease]outbreak to Pirbright.
The Pirbright site is shared between the Institute for Animal Health, a government-funded research laboratory, and pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health, whose work includes manufacturing animal vaccines; both say they have found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity.
The Pirbright laboratories also conduct research into diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, avian flu, bluetongue, African horse sickness and salmonella.
Alarm has also been raised about the safety of government labs next-door to laboratories run by U.S.-based private companies such as Merial, and that biosecurity has been breached.
The safety of British science labs in the United States is also an issue, where the safety of their own local laboratories is under question because of the fears of a breach of biosecurity.
The two Pirbright labs have the same level of security as the germ warfare defence establishment at Porton Down on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=28552
http://www.tetricus.co.uk/
http://www.emergentbiosolutions.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down
http://www.hpa.org.uk/cepr/specialpathogens/SPRU_brochure.pdf
The Pirbright site is shared between the Institute for Animal Health, a government-funded research laboratory, and pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health, whose work includes manufacturing animal vaccines; both say they have found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity.
The Pirbright laboratories also conduct research into diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, avian flu, bluetongue, African horse sickness and salmonella.
Alarm has also been raised about the safety of government labs next-door to laboratories run by U.S.-based private companies such as Merial, and that biosecurity has been breached.
The safety of British science labs in the United States is also an issue, where the safety of their own local laboratories is under question because of the fears of a breach of biosecurity.
The two Pirbright labs have the same level of security as the germ warfare defence establishment at Porton Down on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=28552 http://www.tetricus.co.uk/ http://www.emergentbiosolutions.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down http://www.hpa.org.uk/cepr/specialpathogens/SPRU_brochure.pdf
Mike Dobson
e-mail:
michael.dob871@onetel.net
Comments
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fott and mouth
09.08.2007 13:14
Dobo
Gruinard
11.08.2007 11:59
It seems that although Gruinard was 'decontaminated' the virus can remain active in soil for at least 700 years. Top soil was removed from the island in sealed containers which seems bizarre - why remove them and where were they taken to ? Are they still be stored somewhere ?
The same article also says Porton Down have developed a vacinne for anthrax, which is terrible news. It means it can be used as a weapon without risk to the users. This could make entire countries uninhabitable for centuries. And such a plan was developed by the British in WW11, Operation Vegetarian, which could have made not only Germany but much of mainland Europe a wasteland for centuries.
If the failed level of biosecurity in Pirbright is the same as Porton Down, then Porton Down should be closed down or relocated or it's more virulent stock destroyed as a priority.
Danny