Growing number of high-security pathogen labs around world raises concerns

The number of high-containment labs studying the deadliest known pathogens is booming. A new analysis warns the growing number of labs is raising risks of an accidental release or misuse of germs such as the Ebola and Nipah viruses. “The more labs and people working with dangerous pathogens, the risks go up,” says biosecurity expert Filippa Lentzos of King’s College London, who started the Global BioLabs mapping project 2 years ago with Gregory Koblentz of George Mason University. Growth industry Europe has the most biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs, and three-quarters are in urban areas. (Ten existing labs without known start dates are not shown.) (GRAPHIC) D. AN-PHAM/ SCIENCE ; (DATA) GLOBAL BIOLABS REPORT 2023 , HTTPS://WWW.GLOBALBIOLABS.ORG Worldwide, there are 51 biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs in 27 countries, according to the Global BioLabs Report 2023 , which was released on 16 March. These labs have the highest level of safety and security standards, where workers often wear protective suits. Fifty-one is roughly double the number that existed about a decade ago. Many BSL-4 labs were built in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States to develop biodefense countermeasures and in response to the 2003 multicountry outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Three-quarters of the BSL-4 labs are in urban areas, creating ris...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news