Inadvertent shipments of live anthrax from Dugway Proving Ground was an “inexcusable” failure, said Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, during a press conference Thursday in Washington D.C.
The Department of Defense released the results of its laboratory review that began after supposedly inactive anthrax was found to be live by a private lab in May.
A total of 149 batches were reported as inactivated and safe since 2003 at four DOD labs and 17 tested positive for the regrowth or presence of live anthrax — all from Dugway Proving Ground.
“By any measure, this was a massive institutional failure with a potentially dangerous biotoxin,” Work said.
The 17 batches that tested positive for live anthrax came from 33 batches in Dugway’s inventory, meaning more than half were improperly inactivated, Work said.
“Obviously when over half of those anthrax batches that were presumed to be inactivated were proven to contain live spores, we have a major problem,” he said.
A total of 192 laboratories received shipments from Dugway, either directly or from a primary recipient. According to the Department of Defense, every U.S. state, Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands might have been affected by the release of live anthrax.
Seven countries were also potentially affected, including Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany.
“I expect those numbers to increase,” Work said.
Despite the scope of potentially affected laboratories, Work said there has been no anthrax infections tied to the shipments. The shipment samples were low concentrations and sent in liquid form; anthrax infection is caused by inhaling spores.
Work said the department remains confident there is no risk to the general public. As a precaution, 21 laboratory personnel have been issued post-exposure prophylaxis.
A moratorium on the shipment of inactivated anthrax has been put in place since the review began and there is no timetable for it to be lifted, Work said.
The four facilities that produce and ship inactivated anthrax are Dugway, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and Naval Medical Research Center.
The review cited the lack of national standards for the irradiation and inactivation of anthrax as one reason for the shipments. Each of the Department of Defense’s four labs, including Dugway, that produce and distribute inert anthrax established their own standards, Work said.
The laboratories all used gamma radiation to sterilize the sample containing bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax. There is no national standards or consensus among the broader scientific community on protocols to inactive and test the viability of anthrax, the review said.
The DoD review listed low sampling volume and a short time period between irradiation and the start of viability testing at Dugway compared to the other facilities. Viability testing involves culturing the irradiated anthrax and monitoring for the presence of new spores.
Work said personnel at Dugway followed the protocols established at the facility but problems with the those protocols, which had an unusually high failure rate, were not addressed or amended. About 20 percent of anthrax samples were known to come through radiation without being inert, according to the laboratory review.
“There were indicators that I think the technical leadership at Dugway should have seen and should have indicated to them that something was wrong,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, during Thursday’s press conference.
Kendall will head the effort to create standardized irradiation and viability testing protocols for all DoD labs that work with anthrax and other spore-producing organisms. There is no timetable on the investigation into the direct cause of the shipments at Dugway, Work said.
The review showed there was no malfeasance or wanton misuse of the protocols and an FBI investigation showed the shipments were not the result of criminal behavior, Work said.
