CITIZEN ALERT v2.258SUNSHINE PROJECT UPDATE

The Sunshine project has released a couple of updates this past week on accidents in Texas involving biodefense labs.

On April 13th of this year, workers at a Houston, Texas biodefense lab were exposed to aerosolized anthrax. Just down the road in San Antonio and only a day before (April 12th), workers entered a tularemia lab to inspect malfunctioning air filters without wearing gloves or any respiratory protection.

Everyone knows what anthrax is but tularemia is a bacterium. People call it rabbit fever because you can get if you don't wear gloves while skinning your rabbits. It can also be manufactured. The CDC considers it a biological weapon.

In addition to the bioweapons agent accidents in Houston and San Antonio, on Friday (14 September), the University of Texas at Austin revealed a series of mishaps, including at least four lab-acquired infections, in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, that were not properly documented, investigated, or reported. The infections involved shigella, an infectious bacteria which, in some cases, may have been genetically engineered.

Now just a little reminder: when we went into Iraq to stop them from producing nuclear weapons and that story fell apart, the excuse was because they were developing biological weapons. Hmmm. If that's a bad thing then why do we do it also? The DOD would tell you that it's because they are bio DEFENSE labs. They are looking for preventives and treatments not doing anything sinister like Fort Detrick style.

What the Sunshine Project does through a lot of Freedom of Info Acts, is keep track of the screw ups - the accidents. Remember these guys may be rocket scientists but they can still drop something. And keep in mind through all this that our national defense starts at the collegiate level. The internet began so university researchers could talk to each other across the country. National Security STARTS at college or should. If you've ever read Cliff Stoll's "The Cuckoo's Egg" then you know what I'm talking about.

The reason the Sunshine project stays busy is the fact that the universities don't report all their accidents. Sunshine uncovers them. You can see some of their reports here: UTSA report

Not only do we need to crack down on demanding stricter safety oversight at our universities, we must ask what kind of security do we have at these biodefense labs. Our next American soil attack could come from a radicalized student gaining access to God knows what. I know we have Iraq's oil guarded, but I get a little worried that we may have our priorities mixed up in university security when some kid can waltz on to campus and gun down a bunch of people but someone else asks John Kerry if he was in Skull and Bones and they get their ass kicked! This is a class system at work in front of your very eyes.