Army Anthrax Lab Security Called Lax.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Security has improved at an Army laboratory that works with anthrax since the deadly microbes were mailed to two senators, but during much of the 1990s, it was not stringent enough to prevent a possible theft, former scientists at the post said.

One former researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, said nothing would have prevented workers from removing deadly germs from the labs.

"As far as carrying anything out, microorganisms are small,'' said Luann Battersby, a biologist who left USAMRIID voluntarily in 1998 after eight years. "The problem would be getting in, not getting out.''

Another scientist, Richard Crosland, said supervisors did not often check whether researchers were keeping track of lab materials as required. When they did, some researchers just submitted photocopies of old reports, said Crosland, who was laid off from USAMRIID in 1997.

Fort Detrick spokesman Charles Dasey declined to comment on the allegations of lax security. Regarding the possibility of someone stealing anthrax from the lab, he said: "Other people are saying it could be done. I don't expect it has been done.''

Since the anthrax mailings, which focused attention on USAMRIID as a possible source of the bacteria, Dasey said inventory control has been re-emphasized. He said a security staff conducts random exit searches and has video cameras at important laboratory areas - measures that Battersby said did not exist when she worked there.

The strain of anthrax found in letters mailed to Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy is called ...