Post by Skinartia on Mar 3, 2005 15:06:00 GMT -5
FedEx van delivering anthrax to Winnipeg lab involved in accident
02/03/2005 6:04:00 PM
WINNIPEG (CP) - There were some anxious moments in downtown Winnipeg on Wednesday after a FedEx van carrying samples of anthrax and other infectious agents was in an accident.
A hazardous materials team blocked off the area for about two hours as a precaution before determining the packages had not been damaged. "We're treating it basically as an accident," said emergency services spokesman Gordon Martin. The van was going to the national virology lab, which conducts research and prepares for potential disease outbreaks, when it was broadsided by another vehicle.
No one was injured.
Officials with the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health said the public was never in any danger.
The samples were carefully packaged individually in bubble wrap, then placed inside a hard plastic cylinder designed to withstand even a plane crash before being placed in a cardboard cube box, said Stefan Wagener, the lab's scientific director of biosafety and environment.
"The material itself is normally only in a form that only a professional can use," said Wagener.
"We're talking minute quantities, in the millilitre range, and somebody really has to know what to do with this material."
The anthrax was in a solid form, not the powdered form that would be easier to get into the air.
Wagener said the lab ships and receives lower-risk infectious samples on a daily basis, while the Level 3 anthrax contained in Wednesday's delivery is not as routine.
A spokesman for FedEx said employees are well trained to handle hazardous material.
"Those goods were in the safest place they could possibly be," Peter Balyk said from Mississauga, Ont.
He said training ranges from a standard one-day course for everyone handling dangerous goods to as much as five days for people who transfer material to planes.
FedEx and Purolator are qualified to ship Level 3 materials, while only Purolator has opted to handle Level 4 agents, such as the Ebola virus, he said.
Wagener defended the lab's dependency on the two companies, saying it is internationally accepted practice.
Both companies must also meet strict Transport Canada and International Air Transportation Association criteria that regulate everything from labelling to how to respond to an accident.
Trying to add extra layers of security would be difficult, said Wagener.
"We don't see any risk. If we were to significantly increase the security measures it will make it almost impossible for us to ship and receive material, which would severely impact our ability to do the work we need to do."
Most of the samples in Wednesday's shipment were from provincial labs in British Columbia and Alberta, while the anthrax came from Canadian Forces Base Suffield.
Balyk said the delivery company will study the accident to see if anything should have been done differently.
02/03/2005 6:04:00 PM
WINNIPEG (CP) - There were some anxious moments in downtown Winnipeg on Wednesday after a FedEx van carrying samples of anthrax and other infectious agents was in an accident.
A hazardous materials team blocked off the area for about two hours as a precaution before determining the packages had not been damaged. "We're treating it basically as an accident," said emergency services spokesman Gordon Martin. The van was going to the national virology lab, which conducts research and prepares for potential disease outbreaks, when it was broadsided by another vehicle.
No one was injured.
Officials with the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health said the public was never in any danger.
The samples were carefully packaged individually in bubble wrap, then placed inside a hard plastic cylinder designed to withstand even a plane crash before being placed in a cardboard cube box, said Stefan Wagener, the lab's scientific director of biosafety and environment.
"The material itself is normally only in a form that only a professional can use," said Wagener.
"We're talking minute quantities, in the millilitre range, and somebody really has to know what to do with this material."
The anthrax was in a solid form, not the powdered form that would be easier to get into the air.
Wagener said the lab ships and receives lower-risk infectious samples on a daily basis, while the Level 3 anthrax contained in Wednesday's delivery is not as routine.
A spokesman for FedEx said employees are well trained to handle hazardous material.
"Those goods were in the safest place they could possibly be," Peter Balyk said from Mississauga, Ont.
He said training ranges from a standard one-day course for everyone handling dangerous goods to as much as five days for people who transfer material to planes.
FedEx and Purolator are qualified to ship Level 3 materials, while only Purolator has opted to handle Level 4 agents, such as the Ebola virus, he said.
Wagener defended the lab's dependency on the two companies, saying it is internationally accepted practice.
Both companies must also meet strict Transport Canada and International Air Transportation Association criteria that regulate everything from labelling to how to respond to an accident.
Trying to add extra layers of security would be difficult, said Wagener.
"We don't see any risk. If we were to significantly increase the security measures it will make it almost impossible for us to ship and receive material, which would severely impact our ability to do the work we need to do."
Most of the samples in Wednesday's shipment were from provincial labs in British Columbia and Alberta, while the anthrax came from Canadian Forces Base Suffield.
Balyk said the delivery company will study the accident to see if anything should have been done differently.
