Top-secret Livermore anti-germ lab opens

[douglas9]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A high-security laboratory where deadly microbes are being grown by scientists seeking defenses against terrorist attacks began operating in Livermore last week without public announcement, and opponents said Friday that they will go to federal court in an effort to close the facility down.

Built inside the closed campus of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the facility has been controversial ever since it was first proposed by homeland security officials more than five years ago. Tri-Valley CARES, the East Bay watchdog group that has long fought nuclear weapons research there, has led the fight against it with protests and legal actions.

The facility is known as a Biosafety-level 3 laboratory where highly trained workers, high-tech airlocks and extremely rigorous safety measures are required by federal rules in order to contain any of more than 40 potentially lethal disease-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi stored inside.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency of the Energy Department, which oversees the Livermore site, announced Monday only that it had "granted approval" for Livermore to begin operating its new biosafety laboratory.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/02/BA81UQIOK.DTL

[Didereaux]

1. they opened another'SuperBug' lab in Galveston and already had their first major 'event'...

The lab built on a sandspit in the heart of downtown Galveston, had its first major 'event' a week or so ago, It was reported that a 'superbug' version of the Avian Flu(yes that one) escaped through the first levels of security because of human error or some such.

Personally, it is getting to the stage that perhaps we should encourage more of these, develope the Superduper Bug annihilate all of us and give the insects their day in the sun. Fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals haven't proven to be to sharp, so let the bugs have itr..

[Robb]

2. Amazingly

...I strongly suspect bioweapons research is the least terrifying thing taking place there.

[Kokonoe]

3. I thought lysol was a good anti germ defense

up is down

[krispos42]

4. Brilliant.

"Hey, let's put a biological-weapons research laboratory in a major city. Not just a major city, a major city in a major earthquake zone! And not just a major city in a major earthquake zone, but upwind of the entire continental United States!"

Yanno, the coast of Maine would be a good place for this kind of stuff.

[Javaman]

5. Well, you know there is a shortage of lab rats...nt

[knitter4democracy]

6. My dad used to work at Livermore back in the 60s.

Interesting place. There was a lot he couldn't tell us at all and still can't all these years later. From hints, we're pretty sure he worked in nuclear weapons somehow, but who knows what that means. I'll never forget him drawing out the specs for a nuclear warhead once on the back of a paper placemat at a restaurant, explaining that the real issue is keeping the two halves of plutonium apart until the exact moment you want them together. Freaked us all out. I think my brother kept it somewhere. Dad maintained it was common knowledge.

So, why am I not surprised that the new lab's at Livermore. Odd choice, though, considering that's now where a lot of the new biotech firms are. Wouldn't you want to be near that resource and in a safer area, maybe less populated or something?