This is very interesting listening to one molecular researcher speaking about safety in the work place, unlike other workplace areas, Biotech areas are not covered by OSHA. The molecular researcher caught a virus from someone else doing work at here workstation. The video is well worth listening too especially when she also talks about the roof of the facility blowing up.
She was working with stem cell research and with various viruses. Pfizer will not release her medical records. It took 2 years to find out what she had been exposed to. What is shocking is that it was ruled that “trade secrets” were ruled as more important than her being able to get her health records. Genetically engineered viruses are created in all labs so cures can be created. They are cells that can make animals sick, so they can make humans sick too. She brings up some very good points about Biotech safety being needed everywhere.
What is scary is the changing of the coatings of a virus made for research, supposedly they do not replicate but by doing so, a virus could change properties and become airborne. Epidemics could be created if accidentally released in the wild. The government has guidelines, but no real laws and want to keep it that way so as not to interfere with progress and there’s no way they want the news getting out to the public. She’s calling for scientists to stand up and speak out for public health and safety standards in Biotech. Watch the last few minutes of the somewhat lengthy video though as she speaks of another injured worker, again from a virus in the lab. BD
Check out this video about Becky McClain. Becky was a safety officer at Pfizer’s CT facility where she was exposed to what she calls biological hazards, specifically viruses and EBSCs (embryonic stem cells). She claims to be seriously ill as a result of the contaminants, although doesn’t quite explain what her disease is. She says she was hospitalized and seriously ill.
Still, she talks about how Pfizer was lax about protecting researchers, told her to stop documenting safety hazards after she complained how people ate lunch in the lab (a big NO NO!!!). She was eventually given the axe for complaining too much! She has been fighting since that time to obtain the right to her exposure records which are necessary for healthcare and compensation for her injuries. Pfizer still refuses to release these records.
Becky McClain, worked at the Pfizer laboratory in Connecticut and was working on stem cell research when she incurred biological exposures while on the job. She has been fighting since that time to obtain the right to her exposure records which are necessary for healthcare and compensation for her injuries. The company still refuses to release these records. The federal lack of protection of the introduction of new technology in the workplace is a growing danger not only to those technology workers but the public at large.
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