If you want some nightmare fuel to kick off the new year, subscribe to the podcast The End of the World with Josh Clark.
Episode 6: Biotechnology includes some wonderful notes, like:
Between 2004 and 2010 there were 639 reported accidental releases of pathogens found on the USDA’s list of biological select agents and toxins. Bacteria and viruses like the Ebola virus and the bacteria that causes the plague, the virus that causes SARS are all on the list. Those 639 accidents represent just the ones that were reported and only then, among those publicly-funded labs that are required to report such accidents. Labs that don’t receive public funding, like those run by corporations or private groups, don’t have to report accidents like that at all.
