At the beginning of September, a new SARS (severe acute respiratory
syndrome) case was found in
Singapore. Later,
an investigation conducted by 11 experts from both Singapore and
the World Health Organization (WHO) proved that the patient
contracted SARS in a lab of the Environmental Health Institute
(EHI) in Singapore, where he had been working. The EHI lab has been
carrying out research on one strain of the SARS coronavirus.
"This incident has exposed the inadequacy of bio-safety level
three (BSL3) labs in Singapore and safety protection facilities,"
the investigation report said.
WHO issued a warning in Geneva that SARS was likely to resurge
in November due to a lack of reliable safety measures currently in
some countries' medical labs.
After the outbreak of SARS, scientific research across China has
been largely strengthened. Under such circumstances, BSL3 labs have
been hastily put into use in succession. Are these labs are safe or
not? A reporter from Dongfang Morning News based in Shanghai
recently interviewed experts on the issue.
Experts in China have confirmed there is not yet one SARS
patient infected in a virus research lab in China.
According to Zhu Qingyu, director of the Microbiology Testing
Center under the Academy of Military Medical Science, although the
chances are slim, it is possible to contract SARS via the labs. And
although there are still no clear requirements yet, it is very
necessary to research SARS within the BSL3 labs due to the strong
infective nature of the virus itself.
It is reported that various harmful microbes must be handled
under different physical protection conditions. Labs are divided
into four bio-safety levels according to their protection degrees.
The BSL3 lab belongs to second class bio-safety protection. It is
mainly used on microbes and their toxins, which may cause serious
or potentially lethal disease as a result of exposure through
inhalation.
Experts are worried about that physical protection standards of
many labs engaged in scientific research of SARS cannot reach the
BSL3 standard. Zhu Qingyu had appealed many times to relative
departments to attach greater attention to the safety protection
and control of SARS labs. "Some research on SARS has been conducted
in ordinary rooms. After obtaining samples from clinics, some
researchers just casually take them to labs to test. This is really
quite dangerous," said Zhu.
Due to the huge expense, BSL3 labs in China are kind of a waste.
It is reported that it takes two million yuan (US$241,648) to build
a BSL3 lab. However, compared with the expenditure on daily
maintenance, the figure is not so large. "It takes over 1,000 yuan
(US$121) a day for the maintenance of a BSL3 lab. Many
organizations can afford building it, not using it," disclosed one
expert. He said that the BSL3 lab will turn out to be useless once
the maintenance stops.
Before the outbreak of SARS, there were no more than 10 BSL3
labs around the country. Some experts estimated the number had
greatly increased after the outbreak of SARS.
Many experts interviewed thought that the BSL3 lab is only one
of many measures in the safety control of labs. Compared with the
hardware facilities of labs, software and management are much more
important.
According to Professor Zhu Qingyu, the BSL3 lab refers only that
the lab is qualified in physical protection. In fact, with regard
to safety, people come first. "Without good scientific quality and
sense of responsibility, as well as strict management of scientific
research organizations, the BSL3 labs are useless," said Zhu
Qingyu.
What experts are more concerned about at present is that most
BSL3 labs in China were built in areas of dense population and are
not under a unified management.
Zhu Qingyu said the safety problem of the labs now has caused
the attention of the nation. The Ministry of Science
and Technology has organized experts to inspect the safety
problem of the SARS research labs many times.
(China.org.cn translated by Wang Qian, October 29, 2003)