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Maximum security labs used to conduct the most dangerous biological research have proliferated in the past decade, scientists say, warning that lax controls in some places could cause another pandemic.
At least 59 maximum biosafety laboratories 4 (BSL-4) are planned, under construction or in operation worldwide, covering 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, China, India, Gabon and Ivory Coast. They include the Chinese facility of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, now in the middle of a renovation American intelligence research about whether Covid-19 could have leaked from his lab.
Gregory Koblentz, associate professor of biodefense at George Mason University, and Filippa Lentzos at King’s College London, who mapped the facilities, found that of the 42 laboratories where planning data were available, half were built over the past decade.
Three-quarters of all BSL-4 laboratories were located in urban centers. And only three of the 23 countries have national policies to oversee so-called dual-use research, where experiments conducted for civilian purposes can also be adapted for military purposes.
“Reports are certainly improving in some countries like the UK and the US where there has been media coverage, but we are still not where we want to be,” said Lentzos, an expert in international science and security. “The more work is going on, the more accidents will happen.”
The rapid expansion of these facilities, especially in countries such as China, has intensified concerns about leaks of hazardous substances.
“The greater the number of institutions and the greater the number of individuals with access to these dangerous agents, the greater the risk,” said Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University. “Accidents and leaks are already occurring in large quantities, especially in places that have weaker biosecurity standards. We need to strengthen biosecurity and biosecurity rules around the world. “
U.S. intelligence officials are currently investigating whether the Wuhan Institute may have played a role in the origins of Covid-19. The Chinese facility is home to one of the world’s six BSL-4 laboratories that have been in contention. “function gain“Research on bat – related pathogens before the pandemic, according to Ebright.
Whatever the U.S. agencies conclude, Covid-19 has already focused attention on biomedical research on deadly pathogens, much of which is not subject to any international control or supervision.
According to the Global Health Security Index, referenced by Koblentz and Lentzos, just under a quarter of countries with laboratories operating in BSL-4 have “high” levels of biosafety readiness, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. About a third, including China, have “medium” levels, while 41% have “low” levels, such as South Africa.
Lentzos and Koblentz research adds to the concerns among many scientists about the already high number of accidents involving biomedical research, even in safer facilities.
In the U.S., the Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control jointly control the use of 67 different types of toxins and other potentially hazardous materials. His latest report found that in the US in 2019 these substances were lost 13 times and accidentally released 219 times. This caused more than 1,000 people to undergo medical evaluations and some to take preventative medications. However, none contracted identified diseases as a result.
U.S. surveillance of its national facilities intensified after 2001, when an attacker killed five people by sending anthrax believed to come from the U.S. Army Medical Research Laboratory at Fort Detrick in Fort Detrick. various media and two members of Congress.
U.S. surveillance of its national facilities intensified after 2001, when anthrax, believed to have come from a U.S. Army medical research laboratory, was sent to the media. communication and two members of Congress © Stephen Jaffe / AFP via Getty
The anthrax attacks of 2001 are not the only example of a failure of laboratory safety in recent decades.
In 2004, nine people were infected with Sars and one person died after two researchers were separately exposed to the virus while working at the Chinese Institute of Virology in Beijing. In November 2019, just one month before the first confirmed case of Covid-19, more than 6,000 people in northwest China they were infected with brucellosis, a bacterial disease with flu-like symptoms, after a filtration in a vaccine plant.
China has been especially interested in building more high-security laboratories in order to strengthen its scientific research capacity. Bai Chunli, a former president of the state-affiliated Chinese Academy of Sciences, wrote an article last year warning of the country’s “clear shortcomings” in the number of high-level biosafety laboratories compared to United States.
Guangdong Province announced in May that it planned to build between 25 and 30 three-level biosecurity level laboratories and one BSL-4 level laboratory in the next five years.
But some Chinese officials have warned about the lack of security at existing facilities. In 2019, Yuan Zhiming, director of the BSL-4 laboratory at Wuhan Institute of Virology, wrote a review of safety deficiencies in Chinese laboratories. “Several high-level BSLs have insufficient operating funds for routine but vital processes,” Yaun wrote, adding that maintenance costs were “generally neglected”.
“Due to limited resources, some BSL-3 laboratories operate with extremely minimal or, in some cases, none operating costs,” he said. In 2020, the central government passed a new law to improve national biosafety standards.
Critics say the secrecy in China about activities at these facilities makes it difficult to know how safe they are. In January 2020, Beijing told biosafety labs working on Sars-Cov-2 samples that they needed government authorization to release any information about the virus.
Critics say secrecy in China over activities at facilities such as Wuhan Institute of Virology hinders the security of its security © Shepherd Hou / EPA
Many scientists have said that the Chinese approach to international research on the origins of Covid-19 has demonstrated the problems of conducting high-risk experiments in the country. In March, 13 countries criticized China for not allowing international experts full access to data and samples related to the onset of the pandemic.
“What we have seen so far in relation to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a laboratory that is not open and transparent about the kind of work it is doing,” Lentzos said. “When you have these kind of labs, you have to make sure that they are open, transparent and that you participate with your peers.”
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