
Accidental release of 45L of polio virus solution into the environment – Belgium - joe_bleau
http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/press/news/_layouts/forms/News_DispForm.aspx?List=8db7286c-fe2d-476c-9133-18ff4cb1b568&ID=1065
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PhasmaFelis
What's baffling me is that no source I've been able to find (in English,
anyway) sees fit to mention the cause of this accident beyond blandly citing
"human error."

Human Error.

"Well, you know, I was just taking my 12-gallon tank of polio for a walk down
by the water treatment plant, and whoops! Butterfingers!"

I just. I don't. _How._

~~~
jkimmel
Usually, the big biotech production plants look a lot like breweries. Giant
bioreactors that look like fermentors are hooked up to complex control valves
moving fluid from one to the other in the various steps of a complicated
process.

My best guess is that a technician accidentally hit the "dump waste" button
before the vessel was decontaminated/when it had the wrong solution in
it/before the virus was deactivated, etc.

This incident is especially worrisome, but having seen the control boards for
one of those giant reactors, I'm not surprised that mistakes are made on
occasion.

~~~
XorNot
It seems odd to me that you'd have a waste dump path in such a place which
didn't have a secondary decontamination step in it. Running the water through
UV sterilization would be an obvious move, and incredibly cheap considering
the danger.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
I was surprised to learn a few minutes ago that UV light might not be
sufficient to render the virus inert.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poliovirus#Replication_cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poliovirus#Replication_cycle)

>>Drake demonstrated that poliovirus is able to undergo multiplicity
reactivation.[23] That is, when polioviruses were irradiated with UV light and
allowed to undergo multiple infections of host cells, viable progeny could be
formed even at UV doses that inactivated the virus in single infections.

------
userbinator
Here's the reassuring part from the linked PDF:

 _On 8 September 2014, the Federal Public Service (FPS) Health, Food Chain
Safety and Environment in Belgium confirmed that samples of mud and water
taken from the Rosieres treatment plant, river Lasne and river Dyle, all
tested negative for the presence of polio virus._

But... 45L of "concentrated polio virus"? Although it'd probably be
classified, I'd love to see the full detailed report on how and why this
happened.

~~~
gweinberg
I'd like to know why anyone even has 45L of concentrated polio virus.

~~~
anthracis417
I've worked in labs with far less threatening (but still deadly)
microorganisms and I could never imagine making a mistake with such a giant
flask. It had to have been mislabelled or maybe someone used used autoclave
tape to seal something on the top? Only a idiot would pour an unlabelled
solution of that size down the drain...

~~~
lawnchair_larry
45L is not a flask. That's almost half a barrel.

~~~
StavrosK
That's how much gas it takes to fill my car. Someone emptied a tankful of
polio somewhere.

------
johnchristopher
I am from Belgium (and currently living there). Newspapers reported at the
time that it actually was 45 liters of a solution contaminated with the polio
virus, not 45 liters of a polio virus concentrated solution.

[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lesoir.be%2F647061%2Farticle%2Factualite%2Fregions%2Fbrabant-
wallon%2F2014-09-06%2Fgsk-rejette-du-liquide-contamine-par-polio-
rixensart&edit-text=)

[http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-
Processing/Prod...](http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-
Processing/Production-on-hold-at-GSK-plant-after-polio-virus-enters-water-
supply)

The word 'concentrated' seems to have been picked up over the last few days.

------
Ecio78
It looks like Belgians have some problems with water sources. This is in the
news here in Luxembourg [http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/pesticide-spill-tap-
turned-...](http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/pesticide-spill-tap-turned-off-
at-haute-sure-lake-542e55ccb9b3988708070899)

~~~
nopcode
Luxembourg is not in Belgium.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
Luxembourg borders Belgium, and Lac de la Haute Sûre at its closest point is
only two miles from the Belgian border; so, it is conceivable that Belgians
might get water from that lake.

>(CS) Authorities have decided to stop using water from the Lac de la Haute
Sûre for drinking water treatment, following the spread of a pesticide in the
water after a spill in Belgium.

------
SoCool
Something is being covered up and the explanation for such huge mistake
doesn't add up. 1\. Why was such a large amount of a potent virus stored in
one container or multiple container? 2\. Why all of it was available to a
single/group of persons ? 3\. If it's a group of person, then it must be a
planned act. 4\. How can Pharmaceutical companies pour something directly into
the water channels without going through some kind of filteration and
detection system ? 5\. Why there is not more internet/media coverage on a such
a big incident ?

~~~
kordless
You can safely assume there are drains in the floor wherever these things are
stored. The drains would be for carrying away cleaning solutions for the
environment.

Someone broke something, or opened something, or knocked over something. 45
liters of water is about 100 US pounds, so it was probably a single smallish,
somewhat portable storage unit that got affected.

I agree the wording is less than ideal, but I'm not sure there is a 'coverup'.

~~~
gonzo
I can tell you've never seen a level 3+ lab.

Polio requires level 4.

[http://www.biosafety.be/Polio/GlobalActionPlanWHO.pdf](http://www.biosafety.be/Polio/GlobalActionPlanWHO.pdf)

~~~
ceejayoz
Your link directly contradicts you.

> Wild polioviruses are classified as risk group 2. The rationale for the
> minimal biosafety levels is the near universal immunization of the
> population with OPV and/or IPV. Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) is the currently
> recommended minimal standard for all countries. To ensure safe handling of
> wild polioviruses and potentially infectious materials as eradication nears
> (Pre-Eradication), BSL-2, hereafter referred to as BSL-2/polio, should be
> enhanced by specific practices described in this document (Box 10).

------
bayesianhorse
I don't think this is such a big deal. After massive dilution and water
treatment, there won't be any viable particles left to infect anyone from the
5% unvaccinated Belgians. Let's hope I'm right.

~~~
chippy
The article does give another potential at risk group and geography.

------
jedanbik
So how much is this going to cost GSK? I hope I'm not the only one asking this
question.

------
raphinou
Was it covered in belgian media?

~~~
impy
Yes it was.

------
Havoc
Whats the purpose of have 45L of concentrated Polio??? For private
consumption?

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
I'd hope it's to make more polio vaccine.

~~~
Havoc
>I'd hope it's to make more polio vaccine.

Indeed. Are you going to study 45L of it under a microscope though? The Polio
part I'm OK with its the "45L of concentrate" that I can't understand.

You have 100 tons of explosive? Yes...I need it...for research. And 1kg will
definitely not be enough for my research....has to be 100 tons. See what I'm
getting at?

------
jdimov
Not a great year for Glaxo... first the China bribes, now this. I'm sure
they'll manage, though.

------
datashovel
Originally when I read I thought "perhaps there was a leak in a barrel or
something like this. I glazed over the "following human error" part.

Hypothesizing brings me to conclusion that this has to be caused at least in
part by companies probably trying to streamline by merging branches or
departments.

If I'm a fly on the wall in the board room I'm sure I hear something like:
"Sure, of course it makes financial sense to manage all barrels of stuff
headed for water-treatment facility in the same warehouse, and by the same
team, as where we keep our barrels full of polio and other harmful viruses.
Layoff the other department, close down the other warehouse, and merge the two
asap"

~~~
johansch
Hacker News 2014: Where fiction rises to the top faster than facts.

~~~
datashovel
I'm sorry, but for me when I read something this horrific nothing works better
than a little sarcasm / humor.

I think the points (yes I think sarcasm can be a valid channel through which
to voice your concerns) I'm trying to make here are:

1) People making decisions for corporations as large as GlaxoSmithKline tend
to be disconnected from the impact of their decisions.

2) There are only 2 reasons something like this can happen. (a) Malice, or (b)
incompetence. I reluctantly choose 'b'.

3) In general it's the people who actually make the mistake who get fired, and
not the incompetence in the board room that creates the environment where
these kinds of mistakes can actually be made.

As a side-note, I live in midwest in U.S. and am not a reporter or involved in
media, so I'm pretty ill-equipped to go seeking out facts which I'm sure even
a skilled reporter will have a difficult time trying to uncover.

------
iaw
Safety protocols are fantastic, why do so few people follow them?

~~~
DanBC
Not sure why you got so heavily downvoted. It's a reasonable question. There
are a few books looking at causes of human errors that result in death or
accident.

Usually the cause is wider than just "Bob didn't follow procedure", and
includes things like "Management had Bob working 56 hour weeks in scattered
locations which caused fatigue".

People incentivise the wrong thing; they misunderstand the psychology of
work[1]; they use poor design; etc.

Other examples include surgeon's resistance to counting equipment before and
after surgery - this WHO protocol saves lives and reduces adverse events but
some surgeons strongly resisted implementing it.

And then you have outright forging of paperwork. from 1999 -
[http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news/nn10199.htm](http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news/nn10199.htm)

> BRITISH NUCLEAR Fuels has admitted that it has discovered twice as many
> faked safety checks on its highly dangerous mixed-oxide fuel as previously
> thought.

> The nuclear fuel was destined to be part of a second export consignment to
> Japan, where environmentalists are planning huge protests against the
> scheduled arrival of the first consignment later today.

> The company originally estimated that quality-control data relating to 11
> lots of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel had been falsified, but an internal
> investigation has identified 22 lots that were forged. British Nuclear Fuels
> (BNFL) launched its inquiry last week after The Independent revealed serious
> lapses in its quality-control procedures relating to MOX fuel for Japan.
> Three employees have been suspended.

------
acd
Was this quote and quote "misstake" or real misstake? I mean if they sell a
vaccine, Polio is exterminated no need to sell the vaccine but if you
accidentally spread it again you still can sell the vaccine.

~~~
Mandelbug
Sometimes I really wish I had the ability to downvote. But never more have I
wanted it until this totally asinine comment.

People like you are the whole reason the US' media is complete shit.

~~~
dang
> People like you are the whole reason the US' media is complete shit.

No personal attacks, please, even when you find a comment asinine.

