Why GAO Did This Study
Recent biosecurity incidents — such as the June 5, 2014, potential exposure of staff in Atlanta laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to live spores of a strain of anthrax — highlight the importance of maintaining biosafety and biosecurity protocols at high-containment laboratories. This statement summarizes the results of GAO's past work on the oversight of high-containment laboratories, those designed for handling dangerous pathogens and emerging infectious diseases. Specifically, this statement addresses (1) the need for governmentwide strategic planning for the requirements for high-containment laboratories, including assessment of their risks; (2) the need for national standards for designing, constructing, commissioning, operating, and maintaining such laboratories; and (3) the oversight of biosafety and biosecurity at high-containment laboratories. In addition, it provides GAO's preliminary observations on the potential exposure of CDC staff to anthrax. For this preliminary work, GAO reviewed agency documents, including a report on the potential exposure, and scientific literature; and interviewed CDC officials.
What GAO Recommends
This testimony contains no new recommendations, but GAO has made recommendations in prior reports to responsible agencies.
For more information, contact Nancy Kingsbury at (202) 512-2700 or kingsburyn@gao.gov.
GAO-14-785T: Published: Jul 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 16, 2014.
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