Author: Sally Rockey, Francis Collins, Lawrence Tabak, and Amy Patterson

As you may know from recent news reports, there have been lapses in safety practices at federal laboratories involving potentially lethal microbes such as avian flu (H5N1) and anthrax, including an incident involving discovery of 60-year old smallpox vials in an FDA laboratory building located on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, MD. Such lapses, which undermine public confidence in biomedical research and could put people’s health at risk, remind us of the need for constant attention to biosafety standards. …. Today, NIH issued a Guide Notice, to reinforce the message that our grantees must meet all applicable federal, state, and local health and safety standards for research conduct. Just as with federal labs, grantee institutions are….