Almost 200 labs in all 50 states affected by live anthrax shipments

Nearly 200 labs around the world have received live anthrax, according to Defense Department testimony before Congress on Tuesday.

The Pentagon announced last week that 86 labs in 20 states, the District of Columbia and seven foreign countries received live anthrax from Dugway Proving Grounds, a military lab in Utah failed to kill the samples before shipment. A private lab in Maryland discovered earlier this year that its sample that was supposed to be inactive was actually live, sparking an investigation that found more than half of all samples from Dugway contained live spores.

Those 86 primary labs forwarded pieces of their samples to 106 secondary labs, bringing the total number of labs that received live anthrax spores to 192 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and seven foreign countries: Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany.

"The department is committed to putting in place the systems so that ensure that this does not occur again," D. Christian Hassell, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense, said at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. "Our top priority is the safety of all involved, and we remain fully committed to complete transparency of information."

Defense Department labs kill anthrax spores with radiation and then culture the spores to ensure they are actually dead. In the case of Dugway, both the radiation and viability testing failed to catch the live spores.

The military sends inactive spores to military and private labs to facilitate research to calibrate equipment and design new technology and keep troops and other Americans safe from a biological attack.

Lawmakers criticized the Defense Department for reports that the Dugway facility had used a "potentially deadly process" for more than a decade without anyone noticing the problems.

"What we have here is a pattern of recurring issues of complacency and a lax culture of safety," said Rep. Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania Republican. "What's it going to take to change things this time?"

Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado Democrat, questioned the need for such a high number of labs to be authorized to work with anthrax, asking if fewer labs could still produce the research needed with a lower risk.

"I feel really lucky that we haven't had anyone infected, but it could happen and I think we're going on borrowed time here," she said.

More than 30 people completed a precautionary prophylaxis antibiotic treatment as a result of the latest live shipments on Monday with no adverse health effects, said Dan Sosin deputy director at the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Members also called on the Defense Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take recommendations from the Government Accountability Office to improve the process. Marcia Crosse, the director of health care at the GAO, said the two agencies have "begun to address weaknesses … but have not yet fully implemented" recommendations.

Asked to grade the Defense Department's response to the incident, Ms. Crosse said the military moved pretty quickly once the first live samples were discovered in May.

"I think their response once it was discovered has been probably a ‘B.' I think the activities leading up to it … was definitely a failure," she said.