9 ms·

Accidental release of 45L of polio virus solution into the environment – Belgium

128 points by joe_bleau 12y ago

iaw 12y ago
Safety protocols are fantastic, why do so few people follow them?
- click170 12y ago
  Because it's possible to not follow them. Humans make mistakes, and people are humans. In the software world this manifests as redundant-but-required input. Don't ask the user for a value that can be safely calculated or determined an already known value.
- wyager 12y ago
  Safety protocols can't catch all failure conditions.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  The same reason half a dozen people die every day at work, protocols are not constraints.
- DanBC 12y ago
  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.
- jloughry 12y ago
  From the excellent series of books What Went Wrong by Trevor Kletz: ...our first choice should be to see if we can remove the hazard—the inherently safer approach. For example, could we use a nonflammable solvent instead of a flammable one?...the second best choice is to control the hazard with protective equipment, preferably passive equipment, as it does not have to be switched on. As a last (but frequent) resort, we may have to depend on procedures. Thus, as a protection against fire, if we cannot use nonflammable materials, insulation (passive) is usually better than water spray turned on automatically (active), but that is usually better than water spray turned on by people (procedural). In some companies, however, the default action is to consider a change in procedures first, sometimes because it is cheaper but more often because it has become a custom and practice carried on unthinkingly. [1] [1] Trevor Kletz. Still Going Wrong!: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided. Burlington, Massachusetts: Gulf Professional Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0750677097, page. 208.
userbinator 12y ago
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 12y ago
  I'd like to know why anyone even has 45L of concentrated polio virus.
  - aheilbut 12y ago
    Presumably they're manufacturing polio vaccine
    - hga 12y ago
      Indeed, the article mentions that this was "released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline". I originally read about this at this excellent site I'm following for Ebola news, http://promedmail.org/ http://promedmail.org/ (and also now using to learn a lot about plant pathogens etc.) Their item quotes a source with more info and has some very good editorial content on potential problems, including details on recent downstream outbreaks: http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=2771817 http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=2771817
      - riffraff 12y ago
        let's cross fingers this doesn't become the obvious "vaccine manufacturers are spreading viruses" that anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists need.
        k-mcgrady 12y ago
        Even if that were true wouldn't you still want the vaccine to protect you from the virus these guys are supposedly unleashing?
PhasmaFelis 12y ago
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.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  Yeah, you'd think they have strict procedures for release of live virus in the environment.
- bertil 12y ago
  I have no information about this case other than the source. However, most human errors like this one are due to unexpected similitude and shared affordances: two things that should not be mixed have the same size, shape, color. There was a case of a nurse who injected the wrong compound in a baby and killed it a decade ago (in a military hospital in France, one with a stellar reputation): two viles were strikingly similar (one containing vaccine, the other Potassium) even after being told what those were, you would confuse them. In this case, I'm assuming concentrated virus is not meant to be near water release, therefore no one noticed until yesterday that there were stored in vats that look like possibly fat-digesting bacteria, or chlorine. 40L is a large quantity: the only container I can think of for those is either a metallic oil drum, or that omnipresent industrial blue plastic barrel (the one you see in that infamous scene in Breaking Bad).
  - roma1n 12y ago
    Plus a trainee nurse inadvertently killed a patient in France two weeks ago through direct KCl injection. There is now a move to remove all KCl vials and replace them with pre-diluted pouches.
- jkimmel 12y ago
  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.
Ecio78 12y ago
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-off-at-haute-sure-lake-542e55ccb9b3988708070899 http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/pesticide-spill-tap-turned-...
- nopcode 12y ago
  Luxembourg is not in Belgium.
  - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
    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.
  - Ecio78 12y ago
    I know it very well, as I live in Luxembourg[1] and I have to explain it to everyone I spoke to in my native country, Italy (normal questions are "so, how is it your life in Bruxelles?" "what about your living in Belgium" etc..) So thanks for your unneeded geography lesson and now if you would be so kind to open the link you'll read why Luxembourgish newspaper were talking about some pesticide in a Belgian lake... [1] and if we want to be really really precise, the south province of Belgium at the border with Luxembourg and France is called Province of Luxembourg, so we should talk about Province of Luxembourg and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
bayesianhorse 12y ago
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 12y ago
  The article does give another potential at risk group and geography.
raphinou 12y ago
Was it covered in belgian media?
- impy 12y ago
  Yes it was.
acd 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    > People like you are the whole reason the US' media is complete shit. No personal attacks, please, even when you find a comment asinine.
- Iv 12y ago
  Polio is not exterminated even if it is absent since a while in Belgium. Even if some cases appear in Belgium, the reemerence of an epidemic is improbable in such a highly vaccinated area, unless some anti-vaxxer community manage to catch it. You are probably confusing it with smallpox which has been eradicated.
- suprjami 12y ago
  And of course the Sheeple well keep buying the vaccine, because they have been made dumb and compliant by chemtrails and fluoride, ripe to be overthrown by the shadow Illuminati of Nazis flying UFOs from their hidden Antarctic base. That's what you were going to day next, wasnt it?
jedanbik 12y ago
So how much is this going to cost GSK? I hope I'm not the only one asking this question.
SoCool 12y ago
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 ?
- Dolimiter 12y ago
  "Something is being covered up" That's an extraordinary claim - I presume you have extraordinary evidence? I mean... this is Hacker News, not a conspiracy website.
  - unethical_ban 12y ago
    Maybe because every question he asked is something that doesn't add up with the story.
    - ceejayoz 12y ago
      Hardly. They're all easily answerable. 1. Because vaccine manufacture likely requires large amounts. 2. Because polio isn't particularly dangerous in Belgium. 3. See 2. 4. Because that drain was probably for safe waste fluids, not polio solution. 5. See 2.
- kordless 12y ago
  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'.
  - 12y ago
datashovel 12y ago
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"
- datashovel 12y ago
  And while we're at it let's give ourselves a raise for all the money we saved :)
  - jedp 12y ago
    Cue the smoke and evil laughter!
    - datashovel 12y ago
      I think we just got hit by the ycombinator comments "karma nazi".
- johansch 12y ago
  Hacker News 2014: Where fiction rises to the top faster than facts.
  - datashovel 12y ago
    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.
Havoc 12y ago
Whats the purpose of have 45L of concentrated Polio??? For private consumption?
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  I'd hope it's to make more polio vaccine.
  - Havoc 12y ago
    >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 12y ago
Not a great year for Glaxo... first the China bribes, now this. I'm sure they'll manage, though.
johnchristopher 12y ago
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&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= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-Processing/Production-on-hold-at-GSK-plant-after-polio-virus-enters-water-supply http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-Processing/Prod... The word 'concentrated' seems to have been picked up over the last few days.

128 points by joe_bleau 12y ago

iaw 12y ago

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

click170 12y ago
Because it's possible to not follow them. Humans make mistakes, and people are humans. In the software world this manifests as redundant-but-required input. Don't ask the user for a value that can be safely calculated or determined an already known value.
wyager 12y ago
Safety protocols can't catch all failure conditions.
SixSigma 12y ago
The same reason half a dozen people die every day at work, protocols are not constraints.
DanBC 12y ago
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.
jloughry 12y ago
From the excellent series of books What Went Wrong by Trevor Kletz: ...our first choice should be to see if we can remove the hazard—the inherently safer approach. For example, could we use a nonflammable solvent instead of a flammable one?...the second best choice is to control the hazard with protective equipment, preferably passive equipment, as it does not have to be switched on. As a last (but frequent) resort, we may have to depend on procedures. Thus, as a protection against fire, if we cannot use nonflammable materials, insulation (passive) is usually better than water spray turned on automatically (active), but that is usually better than water spray turned on by people (procedural). In some companies, however, the default action is to consider a change in procedures first, sometimes because it is cheaper but more often because it has become a custom and practice carried on unthinkingly. [1] [1] Trevor Kletz. Still Going Wrong!: Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters and How They Could Have Been Avoided. Burlington, Massachusetts: Gulf Professional Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0750677097, page. 208.

userbinator 12y ago

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 12y ago
I'd like to know why anyone even has 45L of concentrated polio virus.
- aheilbut 12y ago
  Presumably they're manufacturing polio vaccine
  - hga 12y ago
    Indeed, the article mentions that this was "released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline". I originally read about this at this excellent site I'm following for Ebola news, http://promedmail.org/ http://promedmail.org/ (and also now using to learn a lot about plant pathogens etc.) Their item quotes a source with more info and has some very good editorial content on potential problems, including details on recent downstream outbreaks: http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=2771817 http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=2771817
    - riffraff 12y ago
      let's cross fingers this doesn't become the obvious "vaccine manufacturers are spreading viruses" that anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists need.
      - k-mcgrady 12y ago
        Even if that were true wouldn't you still want the vaccine to protect you from the virus these guys are supposedly unleashing?

PhasmaFelis 12y ago

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.

ekianjo 12y ago
Yeah, you'd think they have strict procedures for release of live virus in the environment.
bertil 12y ago
I have no information about this case other than the source. However, most human errors like this one are due to unexpected similitude and shared affordances: two things that should not be mixed have the same size, shape, color. There was a case of a nurse who injected the wrong compound in a baby and killed it a decade ago (in a military hospital in France, one with a stellar reputation): two viles were strikingly similar (one containing vaccine, the other Potassium) even after being told what those were, you would confuse them. In this case, I'm assuming concentrated virus is not meant to be near water release, therefore no one noticed until yesterday that there were stored in vats that look like possibly fat-digesting bacteria, or chlorine. 40L is a large quantity: the only container I can think of for those is either a metallic oil drum, or that omnipresent industrial blue plastic barrel (the one you see in that infamous scene in Breaking Bad).
- roma1n 12y ago
  Plus a trainee nurse inadvertently killed a patient in France two weeks ago through direct KCl injection. There is now a move to remove all KCl vials and replace them with pre-diluted pouches.
jkimmel 12y ago
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.

Ecio78 12y ago

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-off-at-haute-sure-lake-542e55ccb9b3988708070899 http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/pesticide-spill-tap-turned-...

nopcode 12y ago
Luxembourg is not in Belgium.
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  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.
- Ecio78 12y ago
  I know it very well, as I live in Luxembourg[1] and I have to explain it to everyone I spoke to in my native country, Italy (normal questions are "so, how is it your life in Bruxelles?" "what about your living in Belgium" etc..) So thanks for your unneeded geography lesson and now if you would be so kind to open the link you'll read why Luxembourgish newspaper were talking about some pesticide in a Belgian lake... [1] and if we want to be really really precise, the south province of Belgium at the border with Luxembourg and France is called Province of Luxembourg, so we should talk about Province of Luxembourg and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

bayesianhorse 12y ago

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 12y ago
The article does give another potential at risk group and geography.

raphinou 12y ago

Was it covered in belgian media?

impy 12y ago
Yes it was.

acd 12y ago

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 12y ago
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 12y ago
  > People like you are the whole reason the US' media is complete shit. No personal attacks, please, even when you find a comment asinine.
Iv 12y ago
Polio is not exterminated even if it is absent since a while in Belgium. Even if some cases appear in Belgium, the reemerence of an epidemic is improbable in such a highly vaccinated area, unless some anti-vaxxer community manage to catch it. You are probably confusing it with smallpox which has been eradicated.
suprjami 12y ago
And of course the Sheeple well keep buying the vaccine, because they have been made dumb and compliant by chemtrails and fluoride, ripe to be overthrown by the shadow Illuminati of Nazis flying UFOs from their hidden Antarctic base. That's what you were going to day next, wasnt it?

jedanbik 12y ago

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

SoCool 12y ago

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 ?

Dolimiter 12y ago
"Something is being covered up" That's an extraordinary claim - I presume you have extraordinary evidence? I mean... this is Hacker News, not a conspiracy website.
- unethical_ban 12y ago
  Maybe because every question he asked is something that doesn't add up with the story.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    Hardly. They're all easily answerable. 1. Because vaccine manufacture likely requires large amounts. 2. Because polio isn't particularly dangerous in Belgium. 3. See 2. 4. Because that drain was probably for safe waste fluids, not polio solution. 5. See 2.
kordless 12y ago
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'.
- 12y ago

datashovel 12y ago

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"

datashovel 12y ago
And while we're at it let's give ourselves a raise for all the money we saved :)
- jedp 12y ago
  Cue the smoke and evil laughter!
  - datashovel 12y ago
    I think we just got hit by the ycombinator comments "karma nazi".
johansch 12y ago
Hacker News 2014: Where fiction rises to the top faster than facts.
- datashovel 12y ago
  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.

Havoc 12y ago

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

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
I'd hope it's to make more polio vaccine.
- Havoc 12y ago
  >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 12y ago

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

johnchristopher 12y ago

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&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= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-Processing/Production-on-hold-at-GSK-plant-after-polio-virus-enters-water-supply http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Downstream-Processing/Prod... The word 'concentrated' seems to have been picked up over the last few days.