Federal officials have dismissed 11 scientists from a 23-member panel that advises the US government on how and whether research on dangerous pathogens should be conducted.
The action, first reported on Science magazine’s website, came two days after federal health officials released details of an investigation of the mishandling of anthrax samples by scientists at the CDC.
That probe turned up numerous safety breaches at CDC, igniting concerns about how scientists at the agency and nationwide handle dangerous microbes. In one newly disclosed incident, CDC scientists contaminated samples of low-pathogenic bird flu viruses with a highly pathogenic strain and in March shipped them to a Department of Agriculture lab, where the viruses promptly killed all the chickens exposed to them.
