Revealed: the range of fatal diseases handled at Pirbright
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
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Research into a range of potentially fatal diseases such as CJD - the human form of mad cow disease - are also handled by the Pirbright laboratories under suspicion as the source of the recent outbreak of foot- and-mouth disease.
The outbreak led to a call by a Labour MP for a security review of British laboratories to stop dangerous pathogens falling into the hands of potential terrorists.
The Institute of Animal Health (IAH) lab is carrying out research on diseases including the highly dangerous variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, avian flu, bluetongue, African horse sickness and salmonella in addition to foot-and-mouth disease.
Alarm about the safety of British labs has been raised by fears that security at the IAH plant or the next-door laboratory run by the US-based private company, Merial, has been breached.
Professor Martin Shirley, the head of the IAH, admitted last year after a critical report on the labs: "We're trying to deliver a Rolls-Royce service for surveillance in the UK but really we are being funded more and more at the level of a Ford Cortina.''
Professor Shirley yesterday denied underfunding of labs had compromised safety. He said the budget for biosecurity was given priority. However, the outbreak has raised alarm about the safety of British science labs in the United States, where internet sites in Boston were questioning the safety of their own local laboratories because of the fears of a breach of biosecurity.
The two Pirbright labs have level-four security, the same as the germ warfare defence establishment at Porton Down on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. Last night officials denied that they also handled anthrax, the usually lethal bacteria also used in germ warfare.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, also carries out research on dangerous animal pathogens including work following the recent outbreak of bird flu. The Independent has learnt 36 other labs are licensed to deal with dangerous pathogens. Defra refused to disclose their locations, saying that it was "too dangerous".
One of its fears is that the labs could become a target for "bioterrorists" who could release a virus to attack the economy.
Dr Ian Gibson, the former Labour chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, called last night for an urgent review of security at British labs. "The possibility of a release of the virus from a lab is very worrying. We did a report on biological terrorism and visited the US. There is a real fear that these viruses could fall into the wrong hands. There should be an immediate review of security of British labs.''
Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary officer, said yesterday that the independent review by Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial College, London, into the outbreak would look at the overall standards of biosecurity at the Pirbright labs and whether the decision to put them together on the same site was "appropriate".
