Scientists fear lack of safety protocol in max-containment labs may lead to next global pandemic

Scientists have urged measures to keep a potentially life-threatening lab leak at bay, including transparent reporting from countries that have BSL-4 labs

As the world still fights against the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic, scientists fear that any slip-up in safety protocols at high-security laboratories that undertake hazardous biological research could lead to another global pandemic.

As many as 59 maximum biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) labs are currently in the planning stage, being built or operational across the globe in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, China, India, Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire, according to a team of two researchers who have publicly mapped these laboratories.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology in China is currently being investigated by US intelligence agencies as a possible origin of the Covid-19 virus. The theory, which was once dismissed as a conspiracy, has been gaining traction after a Wall Street Journal report said US intelligence had found that three researchers from the lab contracted the disease in November 2019, a month before the first official case was reported.

Maximum-containment laboratories are designed with the specific goal of allowing researchers and scientists to work with the most dangerous bacteria and viruses, which can cause serious illnesses with no known treatment or vaccines, in a safe and secure environment. However, the researchers have said not all countries are obligated to disclose these facilities internationally, posing some serious safety threats.

“Moreover, there are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens in maximum containment labs,” researchers Gregory D Koblentz and Filippa Lentzos wrote in a brief on the global bio labs website.

The researchers have found that only a quarter of countries with such maximum security-labs score well on global indicators for biosafety and biosecurity and a few have dual-use policies, allowing them to use the labs for other purposes. The study also found that none of the labs have yet signed up to a new international biorisk management standard.

The scientists call for a number of measures to keep the threat of a potentially life-threatening lab leak at bay, including complete, regular, and transparent reporting from countries that have BSL-4 labs, ensuring risk assessments are conducted for dual-use activities and international and national bodies to be put in place to systematically register and supervise these facilities.