In this engaging discussion, award-winning journalist Alison Young exposes the shocking frequency of lab leaks and their dire consequences. She dives into notorious incidents, including the CDC's safety failures and the infamous anthrax leak that affected labs worldwide. Young highlights historical lab accidents that resulted in pandemics and deaths, emphasizing the need for transparency and improved regulatory oversight in biosafety. Her insights reveal the critical importance of accountability to safeguard public health against future risks.
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Duct Tape Lab
Alison Young, investigating CDC labs, discovered a BSL-3 lab sealed with duct tape due to airflow malfunction.
This highlights disconnects between assumed lab safety and actual practices, prompting a proper door replacement after media exposure.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Rushed Scientist
A CDC scientist, rushing to a meeting, cross-contaminated a deadly avian flu strain with a benign one.
This led to unexpected poultry deaths, revealing the scientist's disregard for safety protocols due to time constraints.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Forgotten Smallpox
Forgotten smallpox vials were found in an unlocked NIH storage room.
One scientist transported them carelessly, risking exposure, highlighting biosecurity lapses and misplaced trust in individuals.
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In 'Pandora's Gamble', Alison Young delves into the history and risks of lab accidents, highlighting the frequency of such incidents even in well-run labs. She explores the ethics and concerns surrounding gain-of-function research and advocates for stricter oversight to prevent future pandemics. The book also examines the culture of secrecy surrounding lab accidents and the need for transparency and regulation.
"Rare events can still cause catastrophic accidents. The concern that has been raised by experts going back over time, is that really, the more of these experiments, the more labs, the more opportunities there are for a rare event to occur — that the right pathogen is involved and infects somebody in one of these labs, or is released in some way from these labs. And what I chronicle in Pandora's Gamble is that there have been these previous outbreaks that have been associated with various kinds of lab accidents. So this is not a theoretical thing that can happen: it has happened in the past." — Alison Young
In today’s episode, host Luisa Rodriguez interviews award-winning investigative journalist Alison Young on the surprising frequency of lab leaks and what needs to be done to prevent them in the future.
The most egregious biosafety mistakes made by the CDC, and how Alison uncovered them through her investigative reporting
The Dugway life science test facility case, where live anthrax was accidentally sent to labs across the US and several other countries over a period of many years
The time the Soviets had a major anthrax leak, and then hid it for over a decade
The 1977 influenza pandemic caused by vaccine trial gone wrong in China
The last death from smallpox, caused not by the virus spreading in the wild, but by a lab leak in the UK
Ways we could get more reliable oversight and accountability for these labs
And the investigative work Alison’s most proud of
Chapters:
Cold open (00:00:00)
Luisa's intro (00:01:13)
Investigating leaks at the CDC (00:05:16)
High-profile CDC accidents (00:16:13)
Dugway live anthrax accidents (00:32:08)
Soviet anthrax leak (00:44:41)
The 1977 influenza pandemic (00:53:43)
The last death from smallpox (00:59:27)
How common are lab leaks? (01:09:05)
Improving the regulation of dangerous biological research (01:18:36)
Potential solutions (01:34:55)
The investigative work Alison’s most proud of (01:40:33)
Producer and editor: Keiran Harris Audio Engineering Lead: Ben Cordell Technical editing: Simon Monsour and Milo McGuire Additional content editing: Katy Moore and Luisa Rodriguez Transcriptions: Katy Moore
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