Greater coordination called for at biological labs
Energy IG says more needs to be done to coordinate laboratory work and integrate facilities with other federal agencies.
The Energy Department's inspector general this week urged greater coordination between five planned infectious disease laboratories to avoid duplicating their work and to ensure security needs are met, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday.
In a review released Tuesday, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said coordination efforts have faded and must be restarted. "More needs to be done," said Friedman, to coordinate laboratory work and integrate the facilities with other federal agencies.
"Bio labs could be tempting targets" for terrorists, said Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico. "You would think there would be a national effort to coordinate security and make them more secure."
None of the Level-3 biological safety laboratories are open yet. They will be the first Energy Department laboratories capable of dealing with live biological agents, according to the Journal.
The facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was completed in 2003 at a cost of $4.1 million. Scheduled to open the spring 2004, lawsuits and an environmental review have delayed operations for more than two years. The laboratory is expected to open in 2006, according to the DOE review.
"This is a very long list of [researchers] who are interested in using the facility, and they are very eager for the facility to come online as quickly as possible, said Los Alamos acting Deputy Director for Biological Sciences Nathan Schwade.