IT IS part of a 鈥渞egional centre of excellence鈥� for biodefence, but Texas A&M University in College Station has been ordered to stop research into potential bioweapons until further notice.
The move follows the revelation that lab staff had been exposed to dangerous 鈥渟elect agents鈥�. The accidents were reported in obtained by the Sunshine Project, a pressure group based in Austin.
The university failed to inform the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a case of brucellosis in February 2006, and two months later three staff were found to have antibodies to the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, which causes Q fever.
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On 30 June, the CDC told Texas A&M to stop all its work on select agents and toxins, which involves five labs and about 120 staff.
Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project is disturbed that the incidents only came to light through his group鈥檚 pursuit of documents under Texas鈥檚 public records law. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something fundamentally wrong with our lab oversight system,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hy is it an NGO with an annual budget of less than $100,000 is doing the police鈥檚 work?鈥�
鈥淲hy is it an NGO with a budget of less than $100,000 is doing the police鈥檚 work?鈥�
