Lab workers exposed to anthrax
by Pentagon-contractor error
Special to Workers World
At least five California laboratory workers
were exposed to live anthrax at the Children's Hospital
research center in Oakland, hospital officials announced on
June 10. The anthrax had been shipped from the Southern
Research Institute (SRI), a private company that does
classified research on biological weapons for several Pentagon
agencies.
SRI is located in Frederick, Md., not too far from Ft.
Detrick, a key center for Pentagon biological war research.
Researchers at the Children's Hospital are working on an
anthrax vaccine for children and had requested harmless
"killed" anthrax material. But SRI sent live anthrax in
error.
The lab is about a mile from the hospital itself and no
children were exposed. No reported illnesses have been reported
among the lab workers, but they will be kept under observation
until it is sure they are not in danger.
In 2001, a purposeful release of anthrax spores into the
mail system killed five people and sickened 17 others. It also
added to the fear and frenzy following the 9/11 attacks.
For months, the media was filled with anthrax stories that
were linked to the Bush administration's so-called "war on
terror." Media coverage dropped off dramatically, however, when
investigators concluded that the anthrax that had been sent in
the mail was produced in a Pentagon laboratory and that either
U.S. military personnel or contractors working for the military
were most likely responsible. Although a "person of interest"
was named, no charges have been filed against anyone.
News accounts of the latest accident in Oakland were sparse.
An Associated Press story went out and was picked up by a
couple of dozen media outlets. The Washing ton Post had a small
article on page five of its Metro section. A search two weeks
later for follow-up articles or editorials has come up empty.
In contrast, even false rumors of tiny residues of biological
or chemical agents in Iraq still make front-page news and
electronic headlines.
The Sunshine Project, an activist organization that has
exposed biological, chemical and nuclear war research by the
U.S. and NATO allies, has published links on its website,
www.sunshine-project.org, documenting SRI's connections with
the Pentagon. The Sunshine Project and its U.S. coordinator,
Edward Hammond, have demanded that secret facilities like SRI
be open to public scrutiny and to public accountability for
safety.
Under both the Bush and Clinton administrations, billions of
dollars have been poured into secret research. Many fear this
is a new and expanded biological and chemical weapons program
using "bio-defense" as a cover.
Dr. Hillel Cohen, an epidemiologist in New York who has
campaigned against the Bush and Clinton bioterrorism
preparedness programs, says that the SRI accident was
predictable. "As the government spends more and more on
biological weapons research, the danger multiplies that deadly
materials will be released accidentally, as just happened, or
purposefully as in 2001," he said.
"Those who died from anthrax in 2001 and those who died from
the smallpox vaccination program are all victims of the
government's supposed defense program--which from the beginning
has been more about pro-war propaganda and biological/chemical
war research than about defense."
Cohen concludes, "Unless these programs are stopped, more
accidents and more deaths and illnesses can be expected."
Reprinted from the July 1, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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