Probe: Govt.'s Iowa Lab Not Secure for BSE Work

The U.S. government's main laboratory for testing mad cow disease, located in an Iowa strip mall, is not secure enough to store dangerous pathogens like the brain-wasting disease, U.S. Agriculture Department investigators said on Monday.

"The building housing the strip mall is close to other commercial businesses and has limited security at the entry and exit points," said a report by the USDA'S Office of Inspector General, which conducts independent audits and investigations of USDA programs....

"With unrestricted access, unauthorized personnel having knowledge of a laboratory's inventory could remove a biological agent or piece of equipment and place it in a terrorist's hands long before the theft was discovered," the report said....

--Reuters

I was appalled by this before I finished the first sentence. "The U.S. government's main laboratory for testing mad cow disease, located in an Iowa strip mall" -- isn't that appalling all by itself?