Forgotten samples of ricin and the plague have been discovered by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) during a search for improperly stored hazardous materials in its laboratories.
The agency launched an intensive search of its facilities after a scientist in July found vials of smallpox dating from the 1950s, along with other contagious viruses and bacteria that had been stored and forgotten in an NIH lab.
Yesterday, the NIH said it had uncovered a bottle of ricin, a highly poisonous toxin, on its Bethesda campus in Maryland in a box with microbes dating from 1914. The bottle, believed to be between 85 and 100 years old, was originally labelled as containing 5g.
The agency also discovered samples listing pathogens that cause the potentially fatal conditions botulism and tularemia, as well as a rare tropical infection called melioidosis.
Scientists may previously have stored such pathogens at the back of a freezer or on a dusty shelf, but there are now strict regulations about how dangerous biological agents must be stored. Under US law, “select agents” that pose a risk to human and animal life must be registered and kept in a highly regulated laboratory.
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Dr Alfred Johnson, NIH director of research services who oversees security and safety issues, said the agency does have laboratories that are cleared to use select agents, and those pathogens are regularly inventoried. However, the samples found during the intensive search were mostly in historical collections.
“NIH takes this matter very seriously. The finding of these agents highlights the need for constant vigilance in monitoring laboratory materials in compliance with federal regulations on biosafety,” the agency said.
All the samples were found in sealed and intact containers, with no evidence that they posed a safety risk to anyone in the labs or surrounding areas, the agency said in a memo to employees. All have been destroyed.