BIOTECH WORKER AND PUBLIC SAFETY
Former Pfizer scientist, Becky McClain, went public about having been infected by a genetically engineered virus in 2002-2003 at the Pfizer lab where she worked. In April 2010 a federal jury awarded McClain $1.37 million, ruling that the pharmaceutical giant had violated her free speech and whistle-blower protections. McClain, an AHB Board member, now works to raise awareness about lab worker rights and public health and safety as Director of the Injured Workers National Network. She is the recipient of the 2010 Nader Trust Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage.
See also:
Council for Responsible Genetics video on Biolab Health and Safety
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/ARTICLES ON INJURED LAB WORKERS AND NEED FOR BIOTECH SAFETY REGULATIONS:
Laboratory-Acquired Meningcoccal Disease -- United States, 2000
One Person Dead After Exlosion at Menlo Park Lab
Airflow Problems Plague CDC Bioterror Lab
Cowpox Infection in US Lab Worker Called a First
Risk Assessment of US Agro-Bio Safety Lab Found Wanting
"A Synthetic Biology Lab in Berkeley," GeneWatch, June-July 2011, Jeremy Gruber, Tina Stevens, Becky McClain
Worker Safety in Biological Laboratories, a report by the Council for Responsible Genetics
Same School, New Infection? For the second time in two years, a University of Chicago researcher falls ill to a laboratory-acquired infection.
Lab Project Suspended at U of C After Researcher Gets Sick
A Synthetic Biology Lab in Berkeley
UCLA to Hold Grand Opening of Global Biolab
Comment on the Draft Revised Environmental Assessment for the
Information about Maryland Biolabs Scarce
Safety Rules Can't Keep Up with Biotech Industry
Biotech Awareness: The Case of David Bell
Researchers Must Be Wary of Infections
Give Them and Inch: Why Don't private biolabs like Pfizer's live up to the National Health Institute's guidelines? Because they don't have to. By Michael Siciliano,GeneWatch, March-April 2010
SARS in the City by Lynn C. Klotz