An Ames USDA lab Ames has removed several research samples from its inventory that could be used for bio-terrorism.

The lab, part of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, or APHIS and located in an east Ames strip mall, removed the samples in response to a suggestion from a March 2002 audit.

“There was a draft report [from the Office of the Inspector General, or OIG], and we were given a chance to follow up on their suggestions,” said Andrea McNally, public affairs specialist for APHIS.

The USDA Office of the Inspector General suggested in a draft report that, “all USDA and Health and Human Services agents and toxins be removed from the strip mall facility.” In response APHIS has removed all the listed agents and toxins, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

“It was decided that the lab was not suitable for mad cow disease tissue samples,” McNally said.

The audit also recommended the APHIS and Agricultural Research Service ARS “give more specific guidance to [Biosafety Level 3, or BSL-3] laboratories about interpreting and enforcing the biosecurity measures listed in the BSL-3 manual.”

The sample removal was not related to recent instances of mad cow disease, said Chief Counsel to the OIG, David Gray.

“This work occurred well before the BSE cow was identified in Washington,” Gray said. “In response to our audit, APHIS immediately removed the BSE slides from their facility.”

According to the report, APHIS and ARS both “agreed to develop internal procedures and provide more guidance to laboratories’ officials to comply with the biosecurity measures” in the BSL-3 manual.

“The USDA had moved all of the serious pathogens out of the building a while ago,” said Jim Roth, distinguished professor of veterinary microbiology and preventative medicine and director for food security and public health.

There is a new lab under construction, McNally said.

“We have basically removed all high consequence materials, and by the end of 2004, we will have a new facility,” McNally said.

The new facility will be classified as BSL-3 and able to hold materials such as BSE securely, McNally said.

Assistant Inspector General for Auditing Robert Young said the OIG report was “well received” and the agencies involved in the report “have corrected the deficiencies.”

“I believe now that [these agencies] have funding and can go forward and improve their biosafety,” Young said. “The BSE slides found in Ames were at a BSL-2 lab, but weren’t from the case of mad cow found in the U.S.”