PeteFree.comThe Feds Can’t even Play with Anthrax Correctly — Is Stupidity America’s Most Deadly Terrorist?
© 2014 Peter Free
23 June 2014
The following vignette captures America’s self-defeating stupidity to a tee
We spend billions of dollars on national security, Constitution-trashing and vicious imperialistic endeavors — then do this:
The safety breach at a government lab that may have exposed 84 workers to live anthrax centered on a pivotal lapse in procedure:
researchers working with the bacteria waited 24 hours to be sure they had killed the pathogens, half the time required by a new scientific protocol.
The lab designed to handle extremely dangerous pathogens at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta unknowingly sent live samples of anthrax to labs with fewer safeguards, where the exposure occurred.
No one has died or fallen ill but dozens are being treated with a vaccine and powerful antibiotics to keep them from becoming sick.
The exposure incident is unprecedented in the history of American research on bioweapons and other deadly pathogens, prompting alarm among researchers who have already warned about the consequences of lax laboratory oversight globally.
Scientists in and out of the CDC say the process of handling such bacteria and viruses must be improved.
© 2014 Sharon Begley and Julie Steenhuysen, Multiple protocol breaches behind anthrax exposure at U.S. federal labs, Reuters (21 June 2014) (extracts)
Metaphorically, I guess the Post Office clerk forgot to ask Centers for Disease Control whether they were sending anything hazardous in their package. Let’s blame him or her.
This is the equivalent of focusing on foreign terrorists and ignoring more deadly domestic ones.
The moral? — Pointing the finger at oneself usually provides wiser counsel than vengefully targeting others
Of course, that’s less fun and requires both insight and intelligence — qualities that many of us lack, much of the time. Especially when occupying positions of power.