You would expect the organisation responsible for ensuring biosecurity in labs working with dangerous animal pathogens like foot and mouth disease to know about any accidents that have occurred in those labs.
Not so DEFRA, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Freedom of information requests made by Â鶹´«Ã½ have revealed that the agency has little idea of the number and nature of accidents and near misses at the 68 labs it has issued licences to.
Any lab seeking a licence must undergo an inspection to check it is equipped to deal with pathogens such as foot…
