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STORY: The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston could potentially be a major player in the war on terrorism, this according to a recent decision handed down by the University of Texas regents earlier this week.
The National Institute of Health is looking for a potential National Lab to study treatment for diseases that would be the target of bio-terrorism. As a result, UT regents have decided to go through with a plan to establish the UT Galveston campus as a National Bio-containment Laboratory, committing $40 million in construction bonds to help build the federal facility. This facility will be six times as large as the Level 4 bio-containment unit that they have been building for the last six years. UT officials are eager to take a key role in this bio-defense effort, having lost a bid to manage one of the nation's top weapons and bio-terrorism research complexes in New Mexico. Critics say that UTMB has been gearing up for this move for a long time. They point to less publicized research functions like the biological experiments performed on Texas inmates over the last 10 years. Prison rights advocate, Ray Hill: "This discussion of UTMB expanding their biological warfare containment center to six times the planned [plant?] size is of grave concern because we've been covering the story of UTMB and doing experimentation on Texas inmates without informed consent for some time. That story has been an active part of The Prison Show for at least half a decade. When we heard news that they were going to expand that considerably by asking to get a federal contract, it seems almost assured ... you understand, the company they have been contracting with is jointly owned by James Baker and George Bush, the father. And so, the chances of getting this at UTMB is a real high likelihood." In 2000, the Federal Office of Human Research Protections ordered UT to suspend a broad range of medical research trials because the university was not following proper procedures for using human subjects in medical research. Nine of 25 projects suspended included prisoners. No independent agency monitors the care given to Texas inmates and most of the information regarding prison health care is kept secret by legislative enactment. Although UTMB Director, C.J. Peters says that the new facility will only serve to protect the public, Ray Hill has his doubts: "UTMB has a notorious reputation for poor health care services to inmates, for doing medical experiments on inmates without informed consent and a close connection between the company owned by Baker and Bush. " Peters says UTMB will open it's own Level 4 bio-containment unit in June. The National Institute of Health decision is expected by late summer. Karla Aguilar and Jackson Allers, KPFT News, Houston. .
E-mail Karla Aguilar and Jackson Allers at karlitas_way@yahoo.com and jacksonallers@hotmail.com repectively.
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