FedEx no longer to transport bioterror germs in wake of anthrax lab mishaps

Alison Young | USA TODAY

Shipping giant FedEx no longer is willing to transport packages containing research specimens of potential bioterror pathogens in the wake of high-profile safety mistakes by an Army lab that unknowingly shipped live anthrax for years, according to a letter the company sent to federal regulators and obtained by USA TODAY.

FedEx’s refusal to transport these kinds of specimens is drawing concern among officials at major laboratories, who say it was the primary way they sent and received critical samples used to diagnose diseases and for the development of vaccines, treatments, tests and detection equipment. Neither UPS nor the U.S. Postal Service will transport the specimens.

“It potentially is a devastating blow,” said James Le Duc, director of the Galveston National Laboratory in Texas, a major high-containment research facility that has two to three shipments a month. Le Duc said much of infectious-disease research involves pathogens found in the wild in other parts of the world, which requires the shipment of specimens.

“Everybody is kind of dumbfounded that this has happened,” Le Duc said Wednesday.

If there were an outbreak of disease caused by a potential bioterror pathogen, fast shipments would be critical. “If that were to happen now, most public health labs could not ship specimens overnight to CDC, and the national public health response would be disrupted and delayed,” said Eric Blank, a senior director at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, whose members include state health department labs.

FedEx’s director of dangerous goods administration sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 17 saying it will no longer accept packages containing “select agents” for transport, according to a copy of the letter.

In a statement Wednesday, Melissa Charbonneau, FedEx communications director, said the action was taken in response to concerns over the military's recent anthrax shipments. The company has no plans to resume shipments of select agents, she said.

"While we understand the questions about public health, our internal investigation has found no indication of risk to our employees or the public, and we remain committed to the safety of our teams and the communities we serve," Charbonneau said. She wouldn't say whether FedEx transported the Army's controversial anthrax shipments, citing customer confidentiality policies, nor would she say how many select-agent shipments FedEx handled a year.

"Select agent" is the federal government’s term for 65 types of viruses, bacteria and toxins that are highly regulated because of their potential to be used as bioweapons or that are considered to pose serious risks to public health or agriculture. They include anthrax, Ebola and the pathogens that cause plague and botulism. In order to possess select agents for research, labs must be registered with the Federal Select Agent Program, which is jointly run by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To ship or share specimens, labs must get permission from regulators.

Commercial carriers are commonly used for shipping specimens. Since 2003, there have been about 4,250 transfers of select agents, according to the Federal Select Agent Program's website, with only one confirmed shipping loss.

The CDC last week notified 310 top officials at labs registered to work with select-agent pathogens that FedEx was no longer an option for shipments. There is currently only one remaining commercial carrier that continues to accept select agents, the CDC said in a statement in response to USA TODAY’s questions. “Another commercial carrier has indicated to CDC it is in the process of establishing a program to handle select-agent packages. Discussions between the carrier and CDC are ongoing,” the agency said. It wouldn’t name the carriers.

But officials at research labs said the only company currently willing to transport select agents is World Courier, described on its website as a specialty logistics company. Officials at World Courier’s U.S. regional office in New Hyde Park, N.Y., did not respond to interview requests.

World Courier doesn’t have the same capabilities as FedEx, laboratory officials said.

“World Courier accepts shipments of select agents, but it does not provide nationwide service like Fed Ex,” Blank said. “If a public health lab is not located in a World Courier distribution center, there is currently no option for rapid shipment of a select agent.” An alternative would be to ship specimens by ground transport, he said.

Research labs are worried about the impact on their science.

“This is going to delay our ability to get work done,” said Gregory Bowen, director of Battelle’s biomedical research center near Columbus, Ohio. “We have studies that are on tight schedules to begin with, but without material we need to continue the studies, we can’t do anything.”

Other major carriers said they do not handle select-agent packages.

“UPS does not accept ‘select agents’ and never has,” said UPS public relations director Susan Rosenberg. “Decisions by our competitor do not change our current processes, since we do not accept these substances into the UPS network.”

The U.S. Postal Service also won’t transport select agents or infectious substances and has no plans to, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan. Officials at DHL were not immediately available for comment.

The decision by FedEx is the latest fallout over concerns about lab safety and security issues that have grown over the past year in the wake of several high-profile incidents. An ongoing USA TODAY Media Network investigation has revealed widespread safety lapses at government, university and private labs nationwide — and pervasive secrecy that obscures failings by researchers and federal regulators.

Read USA TODAY's ongoing investigation of lab safety issues: biolabs.usatoday.com

Follow USA TODAY investigative reporter Alison Young on Twitter: @alisonannyoung