After several recent mishandlings of infectious agents at federal labs, the White House's National Security Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a memo to all federal agencies conducting life-sciences research. The memo ordered all federally funded labs that handle animal or plant materials that are infectious agents or toxins to spend a month reviewing safety and security plans. In a recent blog post, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said his agency is "taking remedial action and precautionary steps to improve our lab safety protocols and procedures, minimize the risk of recurrence, and increase timely reporting of potential problems." NIH has also issued a Guide Notice to all of its grantees regarding safety standards for research conduct to raise awareness.
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