Pentagon blames inadequate testing for live anthrax blunder

A Pentagon investigation found that inadequate killing and testing of anthrax specimens were among the main causes of why a U.S. Army lab mistakenly shipped live spores to labs at home and abroad, according to a report released Thursday.

According to the 38-page report by the Pentagon, though being regarded as the country's "largest producer" of inactivated anthrax for biodefense research use, the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in the state of Utah did poorly in its testing to ensure potentially deadly specimens were killed before shipping them to labs at home and in other seven countries, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany.

"By any measure this was a massive institutional failure with a potentially dangerous biotoxin," Deputy Secretary of Defense (DOD) Robert Work said in a briefing Thursday. "We are shocked by these failures. DOD takes full responsibility for the failures."

The investigation was initially triggered by a sample sent from the Dugway Proving Ground in April. As the subsequent testing were conducted, investigators found that live anthrax had already been sent to 86 facilities across the country and abroad. Work said during Thursday's briefing that the number was likely to rise because some samples that were sent to third labs had not been tracked down.

So far, no one was sickened but eight lab workers who came in contact with the spores were put on medication as a precaution and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that three laboratories be temporarily closed for decontamination. Endite