CDC’s Credibility threatened

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   CDC’s Credibility threatened by inconsistent lab practices

by Sumitha Manion March 20, 2015

The credibility of CDC (Center for Disease Control) is now threatened after a committee comprised of external experts reviewed the commitment of the centers for safety and the findings do not augur well.  The Experts committee in its report pointed out that the CDC must comply with the rules and controls followed around the world and should not deem a ‘special’ status for itself.

The CDC had created an advisory board – Laboratory Safety Workgroup and a report that the group completed in January points to “insufficient and inconsistent” safety practices and added that CDC’s safety mission was lacking in direction and vision.

The Committee further observed that safety is not a part of CDC culture currently and there is no integration of safety in its strategic planning across the enterprise. Another observation was “Interviews and surveys demonstrated that many employees neither understand the agency’s response to accidents nor how that information is communicated to the larger agency community outside immediately affected labs.”

The external group consisting of 11 experts in laboratory science, biosafety and research commented in their report that they were “very concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility,” after CDC’s practices were called into question consequent to recent incidents.

In May 2014 samples of avian influenza were mixed with H5N1 influenza a deadly virus and sent to the USDA lab, according to the group’s report covering cross-examination.  In June 2014, several employees in a lab for bioterrorism were exposed to infection risk from anthrax virus since the center failed to follow techniques for proper sterilization.  This incident also lead to the resignation of the head of that lab

While the advisory group was constituted in 2014 August, another huge slip up occurred at the CDC lab in December with employees engaged in the Ebola lab faced the risk of exposure with wrong specimens erroneously shipped from a high level lab to another at a lower level and this was stated in a press statement issued by the CDC.

The Committee has put forth several recommendations including standardized training, implementation of risk assessments, funding lab safety programs, establishment of a system of responsible accountability and science, achieving accreditation for lab safety, rewards for researchers running safe labs, and employing a director who will oversee lab safety.

Meantime, CNN reports that Sherri Berger, the COO of CDC has mentioned in a statement that it was critical that the center continued to solicit feedback on improving its operations, particularly in critical functions like lab safety.  He added that the group of external experts were brought in to assist the centre identify and implement solutions and many of them were underway.

http://www.thetimesgazette.com/cdcs-credibility-threatened-by-inconsistent-lab-practices/1585/

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arirish Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: June 19 2013 Location: Arkansas Status: Offline Points: 39215	Post Options Post Reply Quote arirish Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: CDC’s Credibility threatened Posted: March 20 2015 at 6:26am
	CDC’s Credibility threatened by inconsistent lab practices by Sumitha Manion March 20, 2015 The credibility of CDC (Center for Disease Control) is now threatened after a committee comprised of external experts reviewed the commitment of the centers for safety and the findings do not augur well. The Experts committee in its report pointed out that the CDC must comply with the rules and controls followed around the world and should not deem a ‘special’ status for itself. The CDC had created an advisory board – Laboratory Safety Workgroup and a report that the group completed in January points to “insufficient and inconsistent” safety practices and added that CDC’s safety mission was lacking in direction and vision. The Committee further observed that safety is not a part of CDC culture currently and there is no integration of safety in its strategic planning across the enterprise. Another observation was “Interviews and surveys demonstrated that many employees neither understand the agency’s response to accidents nor how that information is communicated to the larger agency community outside immediately affected labs.” The external group consisting of 11 experts in laboratory science, biosafety and research commented in their report that they were “very concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility,” after CDC’s practices were called into question consequent to recent incidents. In May 2014 samples of avian influenza were mixed with H5N1 influenza a deadly virus and sent to the USDA lab, according to the group’s report covering cross-examination. In June 2014, several employees in a lab for bioterrorism were exposed to infection risk from anthrax virus since the center failed to follow techniques for proper sterilization. This incident also lead to the resignation of the head of that lab While the advisory group was constituted in 2014 August, another huge slip up occurred at the CDC lab in December with employees engaged in the Ebola lab faced the risk of exposure with wrong specimens erroneously shipped from a high level lab to another at a lower level and this was stated in a press statement issued by the CDC. The Committee has put forth several recommendations including standardized training, implementation of risk assessments, funding lab safety programs, establishment of a system of responsible accountability and science, achieving accreditation for lab safety, rewards for researchers running safe labs, and employing a director who will oversee lab safety. Meantime, CNN reports that Sherri Berger, the COO of CDC has mentioned in a statement that it was critical that the center continued to solicit feedback on improving its operations, particularly in critical functions like lab safety. He added that the group of external experts were brought in to assist the centre identify and implement solutions and many of them were underway. http://www.thetimesgazette.com/cdcs-credibility-threatened-by-inconsistent-lab-practices/1585/
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CRS, DrPH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Expert Level Adviser Joined: January 20 2014 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 26660	Post Options Post Reply Quote CRS, DrPH Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 20 2015 at 11:03pm
	Thanks, here's some more, including the link to the independent safety report: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recently had lab mishaps involving some of the world's most dangerous pathogens, does "inadequate" training, lacks leadership commitment toward safety and has a significant percentage of staff who are afraid to report accidents, according to the agency's own safety advisers. "We are very concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility," wrote the group of external biosafety experts, appointed by the agency as advisers in the wake of high-profile accidents with anthrax and bird flu last year. "The CDC must not see itself as 'special'. The internal controls and rules that the rest of the world works under also apply to CDC." The CDC quietly posted the experts' report on its website this week. It is dated Jan. 13 – six months after CDC Director Tom Frieden testified before Congress that he'd taken significant steps to address safety issues. The Atlanta-based agency's high-security labs do wide-ranging public health experiments, including work with the Ebola virus to help combat the ongoing outbreaks in Africa, studies of deadly strains of influenza to help make better vaccines and examinations of anthrax to create better detection methods for bioterror agents. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/19/cdc-lab-safety-advisory-committee-report/25031285/ (The report is at this link:) http://www.cdc.gov/about/pdf/lab-safety/acd-lab-safety-recommendations-2015-01-16.pdf
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Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 21 2015 at 4:33pm
	The CDC better get this under control or we will have "The Stand" or "Outbreak" happening! CDC docs need to get their noses out of the books and labs and start watching movies!