The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is working to settle a freedom of information request for documents concerning the UTMB Institutional Biosafety Committee.
The initial request was made in October by Edward Hammond, director of the U.S. office of the Sunshine Project, an Austin-based activist group that tracks biodefense research. According to court documents, the initial request asked for 10 different categories of information, including documentation of accidents in biosafety labs, the UTMB Institutional Biosafety Committee, research contracts with other institutions, and the involvement of UTMB Dean of Medicine Stanley Lemon with the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity.
Hammond said he is extremely interested in the Stanley Lemon papers, which he said describe the work of a committee that advises the government on how biodefense research should be done.
In January, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that UTMB needed to turn over a large portion of the requested documents, but UTMB sued the attorney general for the right to keep the documents undisclosed.
Hammond is currently negotiating with UTMB.
"Many of the documents pertain to safety and research, and if labs aren't transparent and open, there is a greater risk for accident," Hammond said. "The people in the surrounding communities have the right to know what is going on, and I think if the researcher knows that someone is looking over their shoulder, they will do a better job."
Representatives for UTMB declined to comment.
Court documents submitted by the attorney general state that UTMB claims some of the requested documents are protected by the Department of Homeland Security or other exceptions.
According to an e-mail from the UT System, UTMB legal counsel met with representatives of the Sunshine Project on July 12 to explore areas of settlement with Hammond and the activist group.
In June, the Sunshine Project uncovered unreported infections of a biological-weapons agent at Texas A&M University, which caused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to suspend all biodefense research at the school.
"This doesn't only have to do with UT or Texas," Hammond said. "This has to do with transparency of biodefense research across the nation."
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