British Home Office imposes strict new pathogen controls
Private and university laboratories will now have to inventory their stocks of 100 named viruses and bacteria; government order reports of all employees with access to such stores
British terrorists interested in obtaining biological weapons will have to face an additional obstacle starting this week after the Home Office announced an expanded list of of more than 100 viruses and bacteria subject to strict new controls. Under the order, commercial and university laboratories, as well as hospitals, will be required to submit to police officials detailed accountings of which named pathogens they are storing and the names of every employee with access. The move comes partially in response to a disrupted 2003 London terrorist plot to spread ricin throughout the city. Listed pathogens include forty-five viruses, eighteen animal pathogens (including African swine fever and goat pox), as well as three types of salmonella bacteria and two types of poisonous fungi.
-read more in this AP report
