Resources
To learn more about David Bell's story and other lab accidents, check out this list of articles, videos, radio interviews and other resources.
Articles about David Bell's injury at AgraQuest
David Bell's story was extensively covered in the news. This is a list of some of those articles. We present brief excerpts of a few of these articles on the Articles page.
Biotech Workers Struggle for Safety Measures, by Seth Sandronsky, September 1, 2010.
Biotech Canaries -- Sickened Workers Get Little Relief, by Seth Sandronsky, August 12, 2010.
Blood, Phlegm and Tears: David Bell claims he was sickened while working at a Davis biotech firm, but no one’s listening, by Seth Sandronsky, October 16, 2008.
Cal-OSHA: Going Down the Tubes?, by Dr. Larry Rose, August 1, 2008.
Safety Issues Plague Designer Gene, Nano Workers, by Richard Brenneman, April 1, 2012.
The Criminal Cover-Up of Pam Marrone's Agraquest Operation, by Sandi Trend, February 9, 2009.
The Fungus and Bacteria of Deregulation and Biotech Worker David Bell, by Steve Zeltzer, March 20, 2008.
Articles about other lab accidents
10 Years After Sheri Sangji's Death, Are Academic Labs Any Safer? by Jyllian Kemsley, December 28, 2018.
Biotech Dangers, Biotech Workers, Industry And Our Health & Safety With Becky McClain, by Injured Workers National Network (IWNN), August 8, 2014.
CDC Keeps Secret its Mishaps with Deadly Germs, by Alison Young at USA Today, January 4, 2017.
CDC Labs Repeatedly Faced Secret Sanctions for Mishandling Bioterror Germs, by Alison Young at USA Today,
May 10, 2016.
CDC Reports Potential Ebola Exposure in Atlanta Lab, by Lena H. Sun and Joel Achenbach at The Washington Post, December 24, 2014.
CDC Says it Improperly Sent Dangerous Pathogens in Five Incidents in Past Decade, by Lena H. Sun and Brad Dennis at The Washington Post, July 11, 2014.
Nightmare at Pfizer. Injured Biotech Worker Becky McClain Speaks at 2009 San Francisco Workers Memorial Day, by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day,
April 28, 2009.
Other Documents
A Death in the Lab, article about Michele Dufault's death at Yale University's Sterling Chemistry Lab, April 21, 2001.
AgraQuest: List of Interviews, Articles and Quotes involving AgraQuest and Pam Marrone
AgraQuest Notice of Pesticide Registration for Laginex AS, August 20, 1996.
American Chemical Society, Safety in Academic Chemistry Labs, 8th edition, 2017.
Bacteria: Pathogenicity, OECD Safety Assessment of Transgenic Organisms in the Environment, 2016.
"Benefits and Risks of Biotechnology," by George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical Center.
Berkeley Lab Incident Statistics, October 1, 2017 through May 31, 2018.
Dr. Anne Vidaver, Transcript of her presentation on cross-infective microbes, 2006.
Lagenidium giganteum Pathogenicity in Mammals, February 2015.
Laboratory Safety Institute, "Memorial Wall," list of employees killed in lab accidents.
New Lab Incidents Fuel Fear, Safety Concerns in Congress, September 22, 2014.
Non-Reported Occupational Exposures and Illnesses Sustained from Employment at AgraQuest.
Occupationally Acquired Illnesses from Exposure to Biological Hazards Very Rarely Reported, February 13, 2015.
Sandi Trend letter to APHIS, February 23, 2009.
Sandi Trend letter to the California Attorney General, November 30, 2009.
Sandi Trend letter to USDA, December 3, 2009.
U.S. Air Force report, "Biotechnology: Genetically Engineered Pathogens," June 2010.
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Board (CSB) report, "Laboratory Incidents: January 2001 - July 2018," published August 16, 2018.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lagenidium Giganteum, 129084, Fact Sheet, April 1, 2001.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Notice of Registration of Laginex AS Pesticide by Agraquest, August 20, 1996.
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Respirator Medical Evaluation Questionnaire, 2015.
U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, June 26, 1986.
World Health Organization (WHO), Laboratory Biosafety Manual, Second Edition, 2003.
Videos about David Bell's injury at AgraQuest
There are many videos discussing David Bell's story. Some of those videos are listed here. To view the videos, check out the list of videos about David Bell's story which are available at Videos or our YouTube Channel.
Injured Agraquest Biotech Worker David Bell Tells His Story, December 12, 2008.
"Gaming" The Workers Comp System Of California--Mother Of Injured Agraquest Biotech Worker Speaks, December 10, 2009.
Injured Worker's Mother Charges Workers Comp Fraud At California Fraud Assessment Commission, June 17, 2009.
Workers Comp, The Destruction Of Ca-OSHA/EPA And The Case Of Biotech Worker David Bell, May 13, 2008.
Injured Workers Mother Charges Fraud On 9/9/2009 At CA Fraud Commission, September 9, 2009.
What's Going On? Sandi Trend Reports On Systemic Fraud At CA FAC, September 9, 2010.
The Bay Area Bio Lab & Synthetic Biology, False Solutions Part Two, Panel Discussion, March 29, 2012.
Workers Memorial 2008 Presentation, April 27, 2008.
Injured Workers Get Support from Matt Gonzalez at 8/1/2008 CCWMD Press Conference, August 1, 2008.
Videos about Other Lab Accidents
This is a list of videos about other lab accidents and the biotech industry. The links are provided, so you can view the videos here. They are also available on our YouTube Channel.
Inside the U.S. Government's Top-Secret Bioweapons Lab, October 4, 2019.
Another Dead Microbiologist: Chicago Family Seeks Answers in Scientist's Death by Plague, Michael Casadaban story, September 22, 2009.
Becky McClain and Ed Hammond - Bio Safety By The Bay, October 18, 2013.
Becky McClain: Public Awareness of Public Health and Safety in Biotechnology - Tarrytown 2011, May 3, 2012.
Becky McClain's Workers Memorial Day Speech, April 28, 2010.
CCOSH Leader Steve Schrag Speaks for Injured Pfizer Biotech Worker Becky McClain, March 19, 2010.
- On March 15, 2010, a Federal trial was held in the Hartford Federal Court in the case of Pfizer injured molecular biologist and health and safety committee member Becky McClain against Pfizer Inc. for retaliating against her for her complaints about health and safety dangers. Steve Schrag, a leader of Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health spoke in support of her and connected her case to the explosion and death of 6 construction workers at the Middletown power plant in Connecticut. For further information go to The "Nightmare at Pfizer "- Injured Biotech Worker Becky McClain Speaks at 2009 San Francisco Workers Memorial Day, April 28, 2009.
Chemical Explosion at Millerville University Injures Student, June 26, 2012.
Death in the Lab, Sheri Sangji story, August 1, 2012.
Experimenting with Danger, Sheri Sangji story, October 20, 2011.
Experimenting with Danger - Chemical Fire at UCLA, Sheri Sangji story, October 17, 2016.
Fire Accident At Biotech Company in Shamshabad, Hyderabad, December 27, 2016.
Hazmat Incident at the Biotech Lab in Shamshabad, Hyderabad, November 23, 2011.
Injured Pfizer Molecular Biologist and Biotech Worker Presentation at Synthetic Biology Conference, April 2, 2012.
Karen Wetterhahn Documentary, March 25, 2019.
Karen Wetterhahn's Story - Accidental Poisoning at Dartmouth, January 22, 2012.
Lab Accident Kills Yale Student, April 14, 2011.
Preston Brown's Story - Texas Tech Lab Explosion Case Study - Part 1 - The Incident, January 22, 2012.
Preston Brown's Story - Texas Tech Lab Explosion Case Study - Part 2 - Findings and Recommendations, January 22, 2012.
Scientists Killed by Their Own Research, November 6, 2020.
Sheri Sangji's Story - UCLA Chemical Fire, January 22, 2012.
SIUE Student Injured in Lab Accident, August 25, 2015.
Texas Tech Lab Explosion, January 20, 2012.
The Biotech Health/Safety Crisis, Biotech Workers & Industry With Becky McClain, August 8, 2014.
The Case Of Pfizer Biotech Worker And Whistleblower Becky McClain & OSHA, March 30, 2013.
The People v. Professor Harran, Sheri Sangji story, July 26, 2012.
The People v. Professor Harran, August 30, 2012.
UCLA Lab Chemical Fire, Sheri Sangji story, January 19, 2012.
UCLA Lab Accident Death, Sheri Sangji story, November 24, 2012.
UCLA Lab Accident Death, Sheri Sangji story, December 26, 2014.
UCLA Professor Charged In Lab Fire, Sheri Sangji story, March 19, 2012.
Unmasking the Bay Area Bio Lab and Synthetic Biolog -- Health, Justice and Communities at Risk, Part Two, Becky McClain presentation, March 29, 2012.
Why Biotech is the Most Dangerous Tech in the World,
August 16, 2019.
Audio files
The Truth Squad radio interview. TS Radio--GMO, organics and the biotech industry, March 16, 2011.
The Truth Squad radio interview.
TS Radio--Transgenics and plant to human disease transfer,
March 24, 2011.
Government Regulations
This list highlights five of the international and U.S. regulations and guidelines regarding safety in the biotech industry. There are many additional government, industry, academic and non-government documents on this topic.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released ISO 35001, "Biorisk Management for Laboratories and Other Related Organisations" in 2019.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the first revision to the "OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard" in 1998 (almost three decades after OSHA 1970 was published).
The Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety is part of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It was adopted on January 29, 2000, and entered into force on September 11, 2003. Many national laws on biotechnology regulation are based on the Cartagena Protocol.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH) published the 6th edition of their book titled "Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL)" in June 2020.
World Health Organization (WHO) published the
Fourth Edition of their "Laboratory Biosafety Manual" in December 2020.
Patents
Several U.S. patents are mentioned throughout this website, but there are actually thousands of patents that have been issued to the biotech industry over several decades. Here are a few of the patents mentioned on this website:
U.S. Patent 6406691, Potentiator of Bacillus Pesticide Activity, filed by Denise Manker, et al, on January 26, 1998.
U.S. Patent 6004774, Biological Control of Plant Fungal Infections, filed by Pamela Marrone, et al, on November 25, 1998.
SPREAD THE WORD. RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT RISKS IN THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.