Power Fails for 3 Hours at Plum Island Infectious Disease Lab
--------------------------
A 3-hour power failure at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC)
last weekend renewed concerns about the safety of the high-security
government laboratory while it is being run partly by replacement workers
during a 5-months strike.
The loss of power and failure of all 3 backup generators raised fears for
the first time that the containment of infectious pathogens could have been
seriously compromised at the laboratory. The center, which is run by the
United States Agriculture Department (USDA), studies highly infectious
animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD) and African swine fever.
Scientists familiar with the center said since the diseases studied on the
island do not, for the most part, affect humans, the risk to workers at the
center and to residents of the nearby North Fork of Long Island was
minimal. Several experts in infectious diseases said, however, that a power
failure at such a facility for so long was extraordinarily unusual.
Ken Alibek, a former top Soviet germ warfare official now at George Mason
University, said that although he knew of power failures at similar
facilities, he did not know of a case in which the power and all the backup
generators failed for this long.
"If there was any risk of a pathogen in the air, they need to quarantine
all healthy animals," he said. "If they are sure there was no pathogen in
the air, they may not need to quarantine but they need to take steps to be
sure there was no contagion." [USDA is very sensitive to the safety of
livestock on both forks of the end of Long Island, NY. USDA would have
taken the necessary steps to assure there was no contagion, including
monitoring of weather conditions in and around the island. - Mod.TG]
Sandy Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department, said that the
day after the power failed, safety inspectors recreated what had happened.
"They said they were sure there was no bio-containment breach,"
she said. She said that all animals were being monitored and that none had
shown any signs of problems.
Ms. Hayes said that Plum Island called the Long Island Power Authority
(LIPA) on Sunday about 1:30 p.m. reporting that the voltage it was
receiving was too low. Bert Cunningham, a spokesman for the authority, said
the Plum Island workers told the authority that they would turn the power
off and use backup generators until the problem was resolved.
Ms. Hayes said that when the generators failed to start
automatically,managers at Plum Island tried to start them manually.
"They would only stay on for a few minutes and then fail," she said,
leaving the center without power for roughly 3 hours. She said the problem
appeared to be mechanical and not the result of any tampering. Striking
workers said the replacement workers were unfamiliar with the equipment.
This week, 2 new backup generators were installed, Ms. Hayes said.
At the time of the power failure, 3 workers were in the biological
containment areas and they were told they could not leave until the power
was restored. Ms. Hayes said the workers were not at any risk to their own
health.
The Plum Island center employs about 200 people, many of whom are federal
government workers, including the scientists and researchers. The 76 union
members who went on strike Aug. 13 are members of the International Union
of Operating Engineers and are employed by L B & B Associates, a government
subcontractor.
Ed Brandon, the chief operating officer of L B & B, said he had no comment
on the incident. The strikers include operators of the power plant and the
wastewater treatment plant. Since the strike began, union members, workers
on the island and government officials have expressed concern about whether
the center can operate safely.
The F.B.I. was called to the island in August to investigate reports of
sabotage after water pressure fell too low. As a result of that
investigation, Mark J. DePonte, a striking worker, pleaded guilty to
tampering with government property. In October, a 600-gallon container of
liquid nitrogen fell from the rear of a ferry at the center. In November,
it was discovered that a replacement worker had an arrest record.
The latest incident was made public when a replacement worker notified
members of Senator Clinton's staff of the power failure. In an interview,
the worker, who insisted on anonymity, said, "The reason I am coming
forward is because what I have seen at the center is really out of hand and
something needs to be done about it." Requests by The New York Times to
visit the island have been rejected.
The power failure is the first time the possibility of a leak of the
pathogens studied on the island has been raised.
Workers currently on the island, who insisted on anonymity, strikers
familiar with the operation, government officials and outside scientists
said the power failure could have compromised the safety of the center in
several ways.
People leaving the labs have to go through an elaborate cleaning process:
stripping, passing back through the air lock, scrubbing their nails,
spitting and blowing their noses to clear their respiratory systems,
showering and shampooing their hair. All the rooms are separated by doors
that are sealed with what look like bicycle inner tubes filled with air.
The pressure in the seals is maintained by an air compressor, and if the
power fails, those seals begin to deflate after 15 minutes. Government
officials confirmed that this happened.
Ms. Hayes said workers at the center sealed the doors with duct tape.
In addition, the air pressure in the entire building is kept lower than the
pressure outside; if there is a leak, air would enter, not escape. Under
normal operation, air in the building is filtered before being vented.
With the power out, the filtering would have stopped, but experts thought
that the overall pressure of the facility would probably have stayed low
enough to have limited the risk of a leak.
[Byline: Marc Santora]
--
ProMED-mail
[PIADC is a critical area of research and testing of Foreign Animal
Diseases (FAD). FADs are diseases considered to be exotic to the US.
Biological samples are sent to the laboratory for testing when a possible
FAD is diagnosed by a veterinarian trained in diagnosing FADs. Furthermore,
PIADC is where veterinarians receive training regarding FAD, and where the
diseases, treatments, and other research regarding these diseases is
conducted. PIADC has a critical role in safeguarding the health of the
livestock industry of the US.
There are a number of safeguards and back up plans that are not discussed
but are in place to assure the safety of the workers on the island, the
animals on Long Island, and the general safety of the livestock in the US.
To publicize all of the safeguard plans would be unwise.
However, it would appear from this article that a more thorough job of
background checks into the contractors, even government contractors would
be in order. The scientists are highly scrutinized and the same scrutiny
should be applied to all the workers on the island. Scrutiny may need to
extend to even employees of the company suppling power to the island.- Mod.TG]
.......................tg/dk
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