Review panel rubber stamps US research lab's TSE wastewater disposal practices (Ames, Iowa)
In late February 2006, USDA employee Richard Auwerda blew the whistle on a federal animal disease research lab's practice of flushing TSE-contaminated wastes down floor drains that eventually discharge to the Ames, Iowa wastewater treatment plant. In response to concerns from the Ames city government, the US Department of Agriculture agreed to create and fund a "scientific review panel" to assess the human health risks arising from the National Animal Disease Center's wastewater practices.
A key charge to the panel was to identify "scientifically accepted methods for effectively destroying prions in waste water." Prior to discharge to the city's treatment plant, wastewater from the research facility undergoes a "steam sterilization" treatment process. Logically, one would expect that the review panel would survey the scientific literature for evidence supporting or challenging the efficacy of the steam sterilization process, and that this evidence would be described in the panel's report. The panel members, however, simply assert that steam sterilization is an "accepted" method for TSE disinfection without providing supporting data or authoritative sources.
Based on the available science, it is fair to assume that the NADC's treatment process may reduce TSE infectivity. The scientific data, however, do not provide reasonable assurance that detectable amounts of scrapie, CWD, TME, and BSE infectivity are not escaping the treatment system and entering the Ames wastewater treatment plant. Simply put, steam sterilization used alone and at the parameters utilized by the NADC (121 degrees C for 30 minutes) only partially inactivates TSE infectivity. Since there is currently no practical method to test the NADC's wastewater effluent for residual infectivity, it is imperative that any inactivation process closely conforms to parameters supported by the scientific literature. This is not the case at the NADC, and the scientific review panel's report is strangely silent when it comes to these conflicting scientific findings.
Most troubling is the fact that current NADC research involves the inoculation of Holstein calves with BSE. The BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) agent is a human pathogen and is considered responsible for the death from vCJD of 200 people, primarily in England and France. BSE is listed as a "select agent" by the US Department of Agriculture. The good news is that any active BSE agent entering the Ames wastewater plant should be very dispersed. The bad news is that the treatment plant's processes will not completely inactivate the agent, and infectivity will pass through the plant and end up in the South Skunk River or be deposited with biosolids on agricultural land. JW
Liquid waste holding tanks in
NADC’s waste treatment
plant. (United States Animal Health Association)
Excerpts from scientific studies on inactivation of TSE infectivity by "steam sterilization" (compiled by JW)
NADC Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for TSE Research NEW
Evaluation of Alleged Prion Discharges into Ames Sewer System
NADC Waste Water Disposal Evaluation
Report of the Scientific Review Panel - November 21, 2006 (pdf)
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Public Presentation of Findings
City of Ames, Iowa - November 17, 2006 (pdf)
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Deliberations NEW
City of Ames, Iowa - November 17, 2006 (pdf)
Note: First page is blank. JW
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Deliberations NEW
City of Ames, Iowa - November 16, 2006 (pdf)
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Telephone Conference Call
City of Ames, Iowa - November 3, 2006 (pdf)
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Telephone Conference Call
City of Ames, Iowa - October 18, 2006 (pdf)
In the Matter of the NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Transcript of Initial Public Meeting
City of Ames, Iowa - August 23, 2006 (pdf)
Review panel looks at NADC waste disposal in Ames
NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation - Scientific Review Panel Charter
Federal Register Notice of Meeting and Supplementary Information
Waste dispute threatens disease lab's work
Des Moines Register - June 18, 2006
NADC Waste Disposal Evaluation Expert Panel
City of Ames, Iowa - (undated) NEW
Note: Two of the original panel members were removed prior to the start of the panel's work. Dr. Robert Somerville from the Institute of Animal Health at Edinburgh University is an expert on TSE inactivation. Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti is the Director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University. Originally envisioned as a joint effort of the USDA/NADC and the City of Ames, control and funding of the panel was soon assumed by the federal government. At that point, the Federal Advisory Committee Act was invoked by the feds to remove Somerville and Gambetti. JW
Team
of Experts Named to Examine NADC Procedures
City of Ames, Iowa - June 2, 2006 (pdf)
Statement by Dr. Caird Rexroad, Associate Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service
City Manager’s Statement
City of Ames, Iowa - May 11, 2006 (pdf)
Email from Richard Auwerda, NADC Animal Caretaker Supervisor to USDA Inspector General - May 9, 2006
Research Project: IDENTIFICATION OF CATTLE WITH DIFFERENT GENOTYPES FOR BSE INOCULATION
USDA - Agricultural Research Service/NADC - February 15, 2007
Research Project: IDENTIFICATION OF CATTLE WITH DIFFERENT GENOTYPES FOR BSE INOCULATION - 2006 Annual Report
USDA - Agricultural Research Service/NADC - February 15, 2007
Research Project: Transmission, Differentiation, and Pathobiology of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies - 2006 Annual Report
United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service - February 25, 2007
RELATED MATERIAL:
Draft Strategy - Discharges of Wastewater to Publicly-Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) from Pathology/Necropsy and Research Facilities Working With Tissues Contaminated with Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) Agents
Best Management Practices for Handling Suspect Biosafety Level 2 Animal Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) Diagnostic Samples (Scrapie, Chronic Wasting Disease and Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy) in Animal Health Laboratories
American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians - February 18, 2004
Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories - Fourth Edition
Laboratory Security and Emergency Response Guidance for Laboratories Working with Select Agents
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - December 6, 2002 (pdf) NEW
TSEs Touch Off ARS Research
Agricultural Research Magazine - December 2004 (pdf)
Inactivation of Transmissible Degenerative Encephalopathy Agents: A Review - D.M. Taylor
Veterinary Journal - 2000 (pdf)
Virus-Like Sensitivity of the Scrapie Agent to Heat Inactivation - Rohwer
Comparative Analysis of Scrapie Agent Inactivation Methods - Ernst and Race
Journal of Virological Methods - 1993 (pdf)
FINAL OPINION AND REPORT ON : A TREATMENT OF ANIMAL WASTE BY MEANS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE (150°C, 3 HOURS) AND HIGH PRESSURE ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS.
European Commission - Scientific Steering Committee - April 10, 2003 (pdf)
Thermostability of mouse-passaged BSE and scrapie is independent of host PrP genotype implications for the nature of the causal
agents - Taylor, et al.
Journal of General Virology - 2002 (pdf)
Characterization of Thermodynamic Diversity between Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent Strains and Its Theoretical Implications - Somerville, et al.
Journal of Biological Chemistry - March 29, 2002 (pdf)
Comments on FDA Proposed Rulemaking - Docket No. 2002N-0273
Waste Reduction by Waste Reduction, Inc. - 2006 (pdf)
Recovery of Infectious Prion Protein from Environmental Samples - Bartholomay, et al.
Environmental Sources of Prion Transmission in Mule Deer - Miller, et al.
Emerging Infectious Diseases - June 2004 (pdf)
CWD transmitted by saliva and blood
Findings shed light on deer to deer transmission of CWD
Chronic wasting disease found in venison
CWD transmitted to non-human primates