CDC chief on recent lab incidents: “These events should never have happened”
Press conference addresses concerns about CDC lab quality, safety
From a CDC press conference held on Friday, June 11:
CDC DIRECTOR DR. TOM FRIEDEN: First, we had the potential exposure to anthrax at CDC’s laboratory. Second, earlier this week, we learned about an incident in CDC’s influenza laboratory. And third, we had the discovery of vials labeled as smallpox in a storage room on the NIH campus and CDC’s work to secure and to characterize these materials. I’ll give you the facts about each of these three incidents and for the two that happened here at CDC, what we're going to do to address these incidents because fundamentally, what they reveal was totally unacceptable behavior. Before I discuss the details, I’ll give you my perspective which is plain and simple. These events should never have happened. Together, these events I’m sure have many people asking and questioning government labs. They may be wondering whether we're doing what we need to do to keep our workers and our communities safe. And I think it's fair to raise those questions. I’m disappointed by what happened, and frankly, I’m angry about it.