US officials are beginning work to try and secure old germ warfare labs in Uzbekistan, once home to the largest biological testing ground in the whole of the Soviet Union. Officials state that they are acting to lessen the chances of anthrax and other pathogens being stolen as weapons by countries or groups it sees as hostile to American interests. Although Uzbekistan’s major testing site has already been dismantled, there are believed to be numerous others that could present a risk. “Any lab in the world that has pathogens, where those pathogens are not properly secured, is a weak spot in the defence,” US State Department microbiologist Geoffrey Stewart told BBC World Service’s Analysis programme. “Therefore a terrorist could walk into that site, they could acquire those strains, walk out – and because of transportation practices now, that culture could be anywhere in the world within 48 hours.” Full Story
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