[NukeNet] Anthrax Release/Livermore Lab/$450,000 Fine - Press Rel

[Marylia Kelley]

for more information, contact
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Robert Schwartz, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Edward Hammond, Director, Sunshine Project, Austin TX, (510) 717-7772 (cell)

for immediate release, Friday, October 5

LIVERMORE LAB RESPONSIBLE FOR ANTHRAX RELEASE, $450,000 FINE

Tri-Valley CAREs Charges Livermore Lab with Cover-up,
Withholding Information from Public

LIVERMORE -- New information reveals that biological researchers at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory mishandled anthrax, breached
security and access requirements and violated shipping laws leading to a
release of anthrax during a transfer to two other laboratories, one in
Virginia and one in Florida.

The incident has resulted in a $450,000 fine, the largest levied in recent
history by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The fine against the University of California, as the Livermore Lab's
manager, was made public yesterday, October 4, 2007, while the House Energy
and Commerce Committee held the first ever congressional hearing on the
safety and security of the Nation's biodefense research laboratories.

Marylia Kelley, the Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs who lives across
the street from Livermore Lab, responded: "I am angry that the University
of California Regents and Livermore Lab officials deliberately withheld
important information from the public."

The anthrax accident took place in September 2005.  Kelley explained, "The
Livermore Lab's account of this very incident in a court-ordered document
fails to disclose that anthrax was involved or released. The Lab disclosed
only that an unnamed biological agent was shipped with improper 'inner
packaging'."

She continued: "We now know that was a deception. The Lab disclosed only
one aspect of a major accident involving multiple violations of law and
regulation and resulting in the release of a dangerous pathogen."

According to the DHHS Office of Inspector General/ Enforcement Actions,
"anthrax was released from the shipped vials."

"Livermore Lab officials lied to us, the court and the public about this
accident," Kelley charged. "The research conducted at Livermore Lab is
neither safe nor secure. We will continue our efforts to ensure that no new
biowarfare agent research facilities open at Livermore Lab -- and that the
existing research comes under greater scrutiny."

Robert Schwartz, Staff Attorney at Tri-Valley CAREs, added, "I am
particularly troubled that Livermore Lab allowed an unauthorized individual
to package a biowarfare agent. This not only violates government
regulations but raises the specter that Livermore Lab's handling of
dangerous biological agents may increase the risk that a terrorist could
access anthrax at the Lab and spread it around the community. This danger
is at the heart of Tri-Valley CAREs' litigation to prevent the operation of
a new, Bio-safety Level-3 (BSL-3) facility at Livermore Lab. A BSL-3 would
allow the Lab to conduct aerosol experiments with anthrax, plague, Q fever
and scores of other biowarfare agents."

Schwartz continued, "The Lab is slated to release a final version of the
analysis we won in the federal courts any day now. If that analysis dodges
this and other accidents at Livermore Lab and proposes to bring even more
of these potentially fatal pathogens to Livermore, we will haul them back
to court. We simply cannot allow them to endanger our lives like this."

The DHHS Office of Inspector General web site at
http://www.oig.hhs.gov/fraud/enforcement/administrative/cmp/cmpitems.html#6
states: The Regents of the University of California, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL), California, agreed to resolve its liability for
an alleged violation of the Select Agent Program. The OIG alleged that LLNL
transferred vials of anthrax to two laboratories located in Florida and
Virginia. During the transfers, anthrax was released from the shipped
vials. An investigation of the packaging for the shipments revealed several
violations of regulations governing the shipment of anthrax. The OIG
specifically alleged that LLNL violated the transfer requirements of the
select agent regulations by failing to comply with the applicable shipping
and packaging laws when transferring a select agent. In addition, the OIG
also alleged that LLNL failed to comply with security and access
requirements by allowing an individual not authorized to have access to
select agents to package the shipments of anthrax, and that LLNL's
Responsible Official failed to ensure compliance with the shipping and
packaging requirements of the select agent regulations. Under the terms of
the settlement, LLNL agreed to pay the OIG $450,000 to resolve these
allegations. (end of quote)

--30--

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net