Friday, September 16, 2005

Um, Excuse Me...

OK, it seems that there's a minimal public health hazard here, but you still can't help but be creeped out by this:

Researchers realized on Aug. 29 that they had lost track of three laboratory mice infected with deadly bubonic plague. The mice remain unaccounted for, though infectious-disease experts agree that if they did escape from the lab, public health risk is likely minimal.

Before we all party like it's 1348, read on: it gets even better:
[T]he incident focused new attention on the dozens of similar biological-warfare research centers springing up across the country with scant federal oversight or control. New Jersey, for example, does not know how many labs in the state are actually conducting experiments involving lethal bacteria or viruses.

That's good, because bioterrorism is the kind of thing you really don't want to have any control over.

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