A closer look // By Eugene K. ChowLack of use leads federal counterterror labs to find work elsewhere

Counterterrorism laboratories originally set up to test for dangerous biological or chemical substances have increasingly been used to assist in non-conventional tasks like testing oysters for shellfish contamination or identifying synthetic marijuana.

Spurred by the anthrax attacks that followed shortly after 9/11, the federal government has poured billions of dollars in grant money to set up a sophisticated network of sixty-two labs throughout the country designed to detect and respond to a lethal chemical or biological attack.

Over the past decade, according to the Los Angeles Times, Congress has allocated more than $5 billion to states and territories to bolster public health facilities, laboratories, and first responders’ capabilities in dealing with dangerous bio-attacks.

For the most part, the nation’s counterterror labs have gone unused. Terrorists and other malicious actors have made several attempts to attack the United States and authorities have foiled or prevented many bomb plots over the past ten years, but none have involved chemical or biological substances.

With the lack of substance-based attacks, counterterror labs have increasingly taken on other duties. For instance in Arkansas, the counterterror lab has helped police in several states identify “Spice,” a chemical substance that emulates the effects of Marijuana, but has sent hundreds of smokers to emergency rooms.

Stewart Baker, the former head of policy at DHS, said he is not surprised that counterterror labs have begun tackling other tasks.

“Otherwise they would be like the Maytag repairman, just sitting there waiting for the phone to ring,” Baker said in an interview with the LA Times.

Echoing Baker, Jeffery H. Moran, the head of Arkansas counterterrorism lab, told the LA Times, “[Spice] is an unknown chemical. That’s exactly what we would have to deal with in a terrorist attack.”

Last year nearly 7,000 people across the country made calls to poison control centers after smoking Spice or other synthetic marijuana concoctions, more than double the number of calls from 2010.

Authorities in Arkansas requested help from the counterterrorism lab two years ago after a rash of teens appeared in hospitals experiencing seizures, hallucinations, and vomiting. All of the teens had smoked variations of synthetic marijuana, which consist of herbs sprayed with various chemicals that are not revealed by urine tests like other drugs are.

Meanwhile in Oregon, the Times-Standard reports that the federally funded $35 million counterterror lab there has become the nation’s leader in testing foods for E.coli and salmonella. Additionally, in California, the Humboldt County Public Health laboratory has used its federal bioterrorism funds to purchase a state of the art DNA-sequencing machine, which it has begun using to test oysters for contamination.

Jeremy Corrigan, the laboratory manager at the Humboldt counterterror facility, said he had to adjust lab protocol to allow for equipment purchased with federal bioterrorism funding to be used to test oysters rather than just anthrax, whooping cough, and influenza.

“We don’t just purchase the equipment and it sits in the corner,” Corrigan told the LA Times. “I use it for dual purposes.”

The laboratory is now the only public facility in California and one of two in the state that uses a molecular process for oyster testing.

Ali S. Khan, an assistant surgeon general at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said it made sense for public health labs to begin testing for other substances as it helps to keep researchers busy and on their toes.

“What we’ve learned over time is that if you respond to routine threats, then you can respond to a really large threat,” Khan said in an interview with the LA Times.

Not everyone, however, agrees with the use of counterterror labs being used for other purposes. Critics point to the labs as wasteful expenditures that have done little to improve national security. “Pork, pork, pork, pork, pork,” Edward Hammond, a researcher who specializes in federal anti-terrorism spending told the LA Times. “These state departments of health have become addicted to extra federal bioterrorism dollars.”

Roughly $600 million in grants are still issued each year, so for the time being counterterror labs across the country are likely to begin taking a greater role in testing for various substances in their local communities.

Note: An earlier version of this article appeared with links to the Los Angeles Times and the Times-Standard as the sources for several quotes. The article has been amended to reflect that fact more clearly.