Select Agent Research Suspended at Texas A&M

Protocol and procedure lapses under investigation.

Published September 2007 The CDC has halted research at Texas A&M's biocontainment laboratory due to unreported worker exposures, inadequate containment barriers, and unauthorized access to select agents.

The CDC suspended select agent research at Texas A&M University in summer of 2007. Penalties for the lapses may include loss of funding, fines, and even criminal penalties. Documented in the CDC's report are violations including:

• Seven cases of unauthorized access to select agents
• Three missing vials of Brucella bacteria
• Inadequate record keeping of select agent inventory and laboratory entries and exits
• Failure of workers to wear protective respiratory equipment
• Workers wearing lab coats worn during experiments outside the lab
• Failure to notify the CDC of worker infection and exposure
• An aerosol chamber without a barrier that opened directly into a research laboratory
• Improper disposal of contaminated animal remains

No date at which the University will resume research has yet been set. Steps to be taken by the Uuniversity in order obtain federal permission to reopen include:

• Develpment and implementation of an improved security plan
• Improvement of worker training policies
• Prevention of unauthorized access to agents
• Increased documentation of lab protocol