News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has offered some brief, general guidance on safety and security in research on laboratory-modified H5N1 viruses, mainly stressing that researchers should follow existing guidelines and gain authorization from their governments.

Jul 13, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – A National Research Council (NRC) review on the nation's options for a high-containment lab for studying the world's most contagious animal diseases found that a currently proposed facility set for construction in Manhattan, Kan., or a scaled-back version of it, could meet long-term needs.

(CIDRAP News) – News reports about possible airflow problems at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) lab in Atlanta are fueling perceptions that the agency isn't following its own rules, but the reported conditions at the lab don't appear to have posed a public health threat, according to some expert observers.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently updated its strategy for developing and acquiring countermeasures against threats such as bioterror attacks and pandemic flu, a document that spells out the federal game plan for the next 5 years.