Texas Biomedical Research Institute

 lab, biotechnology

7620 Northwest Loop 410
San Antonio, Texas 78227-5301
(210) 258-9400
www.txbiomed.org/

Independent biomedical research institute, founded by the same man (Tom Slick) as the nearby and similarly named Southwest Research Institute.
SFBR is home to the only privately owned Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory in the United States.
A government report released 16 October 2008 is heightening fears about the safety of this and other U.S. biodefense laboratories that study some of the world's deadliest germs. The latest worry: Intruders could easily break into two of the labs due to lax security.
Now some lawmakers are asking whether it's time for a timeout in the expansion of the Bush administration's biowarfare defense program.
The Bush administration decided after the 11 September 2001 attacks that the nation needed to develop cures, drug treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tests to combat germs that could be used in a terrorist attack or accidentally released.
While U.S. officials say there are no known incidents where outsiders attacked anyone with germs from a U.S. lab, the FBI concluded that a microbiologist at the Army's lab in Fort Detrick Maryland was responsible for anthrax attacks in 2001.
Two House lawmakers say the defensive biowarfare program has expanded too fast since "nine-eleven" and that security measures have not caught up.
The government study found that intruders could easily break into this laboratory handling organisms that could cause illnesses with no cure.
The Government Accountability Office identified the lab as classified a "Biosafety Level 4" facility (requiring the highest level of security) near San Antonio.
The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research features an outside window that looks directly into the room where the deadly germs are handled. The lab, which is privately run, also lacks sufficient security cameras, intrusion detection alarms or visible armed guards at its public entrances, according to the government report.
Officials at the lab said they will tighten security.
The October report, coupled with several investigative findings over the preceeding year, revealed security and safety problems covering every aspect of the facility: poor perimeter security, a growing number of accidents inside the labs.
Congressman John Dingell (D-Mich.) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) urged the suspension of all further design and construction of laboratories in the bio-weapons program, until security problems are fixed.
The Government Accountability Office reported that no one in the government even knows the total number of BSL (Biosafety Level) 3 and 4 labs currently in existence.
BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories are those handling the most dangerous germs and toxins and requiring the most stringent security. The BSL-4 labs handle organisms that cause diseases without a cure. They include ebola, marburg, junin and lassa viruses.
Five BSL-4 labs operate now, but the number could triple with labs planned or under construction, the GAO said.