Head of CDC lab resigns amid furor
NEW YORK – The head of the government lab that potentially exposed workers to live anthrax has resigned, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.
Michael Farrell was head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab since 2009. He submitted his resignation Tuesday, the spokesman said.
Farrell declined interview requests, said the spokesman, Tom Skinner.
Farrell was reassigned after an incident last month at an Atlanta lab that handles bioterrorism agents. The lab was supposed to completely kill anthrax samples before sending them to two other CDC labs that had fewer safeguards. But the higher-security lab did not completely sterilize the bacteria.
Dozens of CDC workers were potentially exposed to anthrax. No one got sick. But an internal investigation found serious safety lapses.
Netherlands receives bodies from plane
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands – Victims of the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine returned at last Wednesday to Dutch soil in 40 wooden coffins, solemnly and gently carried to 40 identical hearses, flags at half-staff flapping in the wind.
The carefully choreographed, nearly silent ceremony contrasted sharply with the boom of shells and shattered glass in eastern Ukraine as pro-Russian rebels fought to hang onto territory and shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets. The bold new attack showed the separatists are not shying away from shooting at the skies despite international outrage and grief at the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Investigators began studying the plane’s “black boxes” Wednesday. The Dutch Safety Board said the cockpit voice recorder suffered damage but showed no sign of manipulation.
Associated Press
