WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- One of the contenders to house a new Homeland Security bio-war facility had an undisclosed accident last year during which a researcher was infected.
The accident happened in February 2006 in an aerosol chamber in Texas A&M University's ultra-secure bio-weapons lab, which has a level 3 bio-security rating, one of the highest there is.
The researcher, whose name has not been released, was infected with the Brucella virus, a bio-agent that causes flu-like symptoms, according to documents obtained under state freedom of information laws and released by the Sunshine Project, an Austin, Texas-based government transparency lobbying group.
The Sunshine Project said the university had failed to make a legally required report to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control about the incident and faced a $500,000 fine. A spokesman for the CDC confirmed to The Eagle, an A&M University newspaper, that an investigation into the apparent lapse was under way.
The university is one of 17 bidders to house the Department of Homeland Security's National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility -- a cutting edge research-and-development institute the department wants to fund.
Homeland Security Spokesman Christopher Kelly said he could not comment on an ongoing procurement decision. "Safety records of all contenders will be a factor in the selection process," he told United Press International.
