The U.S. government's main laboratory for testing mad cow disease, located in an Iowa strip mall, is not secure enough to store dangerous pathogens like the brain-wasting disease, U.S. Agriculture Department investigators said Monday.
"The building housing the strip mall is close to other commercial businesses and has limited security at the entry and exit points," said a report by the USDA'S Office of Inspector General, which conducts independent audits and investigations of USDA programs.
The facility in Ames, Iowa -- run by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency -- discovered the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in December after testing brain tissue samples from an infected cow in Washington state.
Despite previous recommendations to not store pathogens of any dangerous diseases, like bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the laboratory was found to have kept brain tissue samples from the infected cow, the report said.
"They stated that the BSE slides posed little risk but agreed that the pathogens should not be at the strip mall facility," the report said. Staffers "have since received training to ensure that this incident does not recur," it added.
The 27-page report said the laboratory has made improvements in security and record-keeping since the agency's first investigation in March 2002. However, investigators repeated their concern that scientists and students were allowed "unlimited access" to the laboratory without the USDA requiring background checks.
"With unrestricted access, unauthorized personnel having knowledge of a laboratory's inventory could remove a biological agent or piece of equipment and place it in a terrorist's hands long before the theft was discovered," the report said.
The USDA has verified no dangerous animal diseases were stored any longer at the Ames facility, the department said in response to the report.
The USDA is working to relocate the federal laboratory. The Bush administration asked Congress for $178 million in fiscal 2005 to complete renovation of the new National Centers for Animal Health.
