by Laboratory leaks and accidents in Britain have increased by 50 per cent since the emergence of Covid-19, an investigation by The Telegraph has found.
Freedom of Information requests to all British universities, government research bodies and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have revealed that many dangerous viruses and bacteria including anthrax, rabies and Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome) are being stored close to populations large, which may be placing. citizens at risk.
Among the accidents in laboratories in the last decade is a worker at the University of York being pricked with a needle used to infect mice with the parasite Leishmania donovani.
At the former Public Health England (PHE) laboratory at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, a worker was pricked with a needle containing HIV, human lymphotropic T-cell virus type 2, and Candida albicans.
An emergency fumigation was carried out in the same laboratory after a worker dropped plates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bug responsible for tuberculosis.
Between January 2010 and December 2019, the HSE recorded 286 incidents or near incidents, approximately 28 per year.
But since January 2020, there have been 156 reports, about 42 per year, an increase of 50 percent.
The HSE, which had the Information Commissioner’s Office threatened with contempt of court before releasing the details, said it could not reveal full details of the incidents as some of the biological agents involved are listed in the Terrorism Act.
Concerns are growing that Covid-19 was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The first cases emerged just eight miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) where scientists were experimenting with Sars-like coronaviruses.
Earlier this year, a US Senate report on the origin concluded that the evidence showed an “unintended incident related to research”, and the US recently stripped the WIV of its funding to carry out dangerous experiments on coronaviruses before the pandemic.
Experts have called for tighter regulation of laboratories in Britain and abroad, warning that a research-related incident, whether accidental or deliberate, could lead to the next pandemic.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commander of NATO’s Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Forces, said: “The apparent laboratory leaks in this country alone show that we are all sitting on a ticking time bomb.
“(Covid-19) appears to be man-made, although it is likely an accident in a laboratory, rather than intentional.
“The next pandemic is very likely to be man-made, given the ease and uncontrollability of synthetic biology, and could kill millions of people.”
Other accidents revealed in freedom of information requests include the bird flu leaking from a cracked sample tube at a Medicines Healthcare and Regulatory Agency (MHRA) laboratory in Hertfordshire.
A PHE laboratory at Manchester Royal Infirmary was evacuated after an accident involving a rack of agar plates containing Neisseria meningitidis, the bacteria responsible for life-threatening sepsis.
At the PHE laboratory in Bury St Edmunds, hepatitis C was leaked onto the hands of a worker while at Queen Mary University of London, a worker was stabbed with a needle containing the Vaccinia virus, similar to smallpox.
Lost transgenic mouse
There were also breaches of Covid laboratory protocol at the University of Liverpool including the virus leaking out of a poorly sealed swab package and infected cells being left in an uncommissioned laboratory.
British researchers also lost a genetically modified mouse, and a lab worker accidentally injected themselves with a modified version of Trypanosoma cruzi, a microscopic parasite that causes Chagas disease.
There have been at least 34 incidents of exposure to the Brucella bacteria in laboratories including University College Hospital London, the Royal London Hospital and the Royal Leicester Infirmary over the past 15 years.
The Global Biolabs Report 2023 shows that the UK scores well for biosafety oversight. However, a Chatham House report in December warned that despite tighter controls, laboratory accidents still occur regularly.
The Chatham House report identified laboratory-acquired infections in 309 people from 51 pathogens worldwide between 2000 and 2021, including 16 incidents of pathogen escape from biocontainment facilities, most of which occurred in research and university laboratories.
‘Potentially catastrophic consequences’
Responding to The Telegraph’s figures, Dr David Harper, co-author of the report and former chief scientist and director-general for health improvement and protection at the UK Department of Health, said: “Consequences could accidental violations of laboratory biocontainment can be catastrophic.
“The accidents reported today undoubtedly underestimate the true scale of the problem.
“More transparency, with better reporting, documentation and analysis, is urgently needed along with improved governance and oversight.
“There is an urgent need for a conversation on whether global reporting norms should be developed and what verification or enforcement processes might be necessary.”
In the past year, across Britain, including outside laboratories, the HSE recorded 376 incidents of release or escape of biological agents, and 634 accidental releases or escapes of potentially harmful substances.
Dr Filippa Lentzos, co-director of the Center for Science and Security Studies at King’s College London, said: “Although laboratory leaks and accidents may have increased, some of this may be due to increased incident reporting .
“In terms of risks, what is more relevant than the number of incidents is simply how many have developed infection and/or illness. I have little doubt, and certainly not much spread beyond the particular lab worker involved in the incident.
“The post-Covid global construction boom in high-containment laboratories is not being matched by the accompanying risk management policies.”
The next pandemic could come from a laboratory
By Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon
Given the ease and uncontrollability of synthetic biology, the next pandemic is highly likely to be man-made and could kill millions of people.
But the Covid Inquiry’s only concern seems to be getting the kick, and it’s a complete waste of money and time.
No thought was given to how the pandemic started and how to prevent the next one, which, given all the bad actors out there now, and those who would do us harm, is worrying.
The worst backlash has been shown by the Covid Inquiry but we need to work out how to prevent the next one rather than just apportioning the blame to the last one.
Many mistakes have been made by politicians who did not understand the science and did not have the breadth of experience or intelligence to evaluate the advice given and act rationally towards it.
I had the same experience over several years trying to explain to politicians that the use of chemical gas weapons in Syria is a crime against humanity and must be stopped.
They could understand bombs and bullets, but for the most part “bugs and smells” were beyond them, so President Assad of Syria continued to murder his own people with gas.
Assad is still in power 10 years later and was even invited to Cop28.
If we continue with the same ambivalence about preventing the next pandemic, we could face a bigger disaster.
Almost four years down the line since the pandemic, we still don’t know how it started. It appears to be man-made, although it is likely an accident in a laboratory, rather than intentional.
As a biological counterterrorism expert, this process is less likely to be clear and attainable in the future, so it is incredibly frustrating that it is happening now.
The apparent laboratory leaks in this country alone show that we are all sitting on a ticking time bomb!
First, we need to regulate and police labs like Wuhan, which currently do as they please, without any external scrutiny.
There are about 4,000 labs and a million scientists who have the ability to manipulate the genome to create a destructive pathogen and right now no one is looking too closely at them.
If the UN Convention on Biological Weapons and Toxins were properly funded and supported, that is exactly what it should do.
Secondly, we now have the technology, developed in the north east of England to track pathogens moving around this country and the globe, almost in real time.
This would provide actionable information, which according to the inquiry is sorely lacking, so that they could make effective decisions to contain any future outbreak.
In fact, if we don’t prepare better for the next pandemic, all the “energy” spent on solving climate change, illegal immigration and the cost of living crisis could be woefully irrelevant.
As in the wonderful novel I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, one bad actor could synthetically engineer a highly toxic and transmissible pathogen that could kill millions.
The fiction of this book from 10 years ago is today’s reality.
Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a retired British Army officer and former commanding officer of the United Kingdom’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment and NATO’s Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion.
