Biosafety by the Bay: Becky McClain & Ed Hammond – Wednesday, October 16, 2013 7:30 pm PST

 This photograph depicted a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) laboratorian, as he was putting on an older-model positive-pressure suit before entering one of the CDC’s earlier maximum containment, or Biosafety Laboratories (BSL), sometimes referred to as a “suit lab”. Scientists working within a BSL must wear protective garments that are air-tight, thereby, protecting the technician from exposure to highly-infectious pathogenic organisms. Fresh, filtered air is supplied to the interior of the suit via overhead tubing. The positive-pressurization offers some added protection to exposure through a defect in the suit, for if the suit’s patency is compromised, air would be forced out of the suit instead of being sucked into the suit.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tech puts positive-pressure suit before entering CDC’s  maximum containment Biosafety Laboratories (BSL).

East Bay Conversations in Berkeley and streaming online

A video of this event will be posted soon.

Biotech whistleblower, Becky McClain, and international lab safety expert Ed Hammond talk with Movement Generation’s Gopal Dayaneni about the biolabs targeted for siting throughout the so-called “East Bay Green Corridor,” biolab worker and community safety, and biosecurity.

Brower Center’s Goldman Theater  – 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley

Free and Open to the Public

Livestream broadcast at www.synbiowatch.org

About the Guests:
Becky McClain was  a Pfizer, Inc. molecular biologist when she became seriously ill after exposure to genetically modified agents at the pharmaceutical giant’s Connecticut lab. Last year she won the appeal upholding her case against the company for its violation of her right to free speech after she called attention to inadequate biolab safety conditions.  More SynBioWatch Posts on Becky McClain

Edward Hammond directs Prickly Research (www.pricklyresearch.com), a research and writing consultancy based in Austin, Texas, USA. He has worked on biodiversity and infectious disease issues since 1994. From 1999 to 2008 Hammond directed the Sunshine Project, an international non-governmental organization specializing in biological weapons control. Hammond was Programme Officer for the Rural Advancement Foundation International (now the ETC Group) from 1995 to 1999.

Co-host and Moderator
Gopal Dayaneni  is a staff collective member at Movement Generation. He has worked for social, economic, and environmental justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, and speaking since the late 1980′s.

View videos of other  East Bay Conversation including Vandana Shiva!

 


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