Watchdog of the Laboratories

When doctors discovered dangerous traces of radio-iodine in a Harvard researcher's thyroid. Robert U. Johnson was called in to investigate. A technical associate in radiological sciences with the University's department of Environmental Health and Safety EHS. Johnson questioned the researchers and other scientists in his lab and finally concluded that his hand had become contaminated and then touched his mouth as he drank coffee on the job.

Last summer several children in a Harvard daycare center entered hospitals after being stung by German yellow pickets. The center called on Gary D. Alpert Post control officer of the EHS to help present the children from being stung in the future. Alpert found that the vicious insects are attracted to substances continuing protein he also realized that the children ate their lunches out doors and that many brought tuna fish sandwiches, rich in protein. He solved the problem by destroying local insect colonies and having the children cat meals indoors.

Recently in an attempt to create more office space in one of Harvard's buildings, a room was redesigned with a mezzanine level. Within a short period of time the walls of the newly constructed space began to ooze with bluefish-white mold Enter Lynn A. Harding, a Biohazards safety officer with EHS, who diagnosed and solved the problem. Through a series of humidity tests, Harding discovered that the new mezzanine level "stratified the room," allowing air contaminants to thrive. She set up a program to lower the humidity of the upper level and thus eradicate the mold.

Under the auspices of the EHS, Harding, Alpert. Johnson and other health specialists respond to and attack a variety of health Eazards through out the University. A multi faceted public health organization. EHS is one of Harvard's newer establishments. In 1958, University Health Services hired Dr. Benjamin G. Ferris, current EHS director to organize a few radiation protection officers into a larger group which would oversee health conditions in University buildings. At the time, the main purpose of EHS was to handle radioactive material and to establish safety programs.

Since then, the EHS has burgeoned into an organization of more than 30 people which deals with problems ranging from genetic engineering to fire protection. It has seven subdivisions, each of which handles a specific area of health and safety, and its team include such diverse specialists as Louis J. Diberardinis, an industrial hygienist who evaluates chemical exposures and deals with asbestos-related problems; three safety and construction as well as hazardous chemical disposal; David E. Breen, a fire protection engineer who tries to detect fire hazards; Jessie A. Morton, who heads the sanitation inspection branch: Harding, who handles infectious agents and genetics research hazards: Alpert, the newest of the group, who deals with pest control: and a radiation protection group, headed by Dr. Jacob Shapiro, a radiological safety engineer, and Johnson.

This year, EHS became part of a nationwide effort to ascertain the possible harmful effects of asbestos, a common insulating material. Diberardinis has led the University investigation of the problem, detective work which has taken him from the MCZ to William James Hall to the Law School's Harkness Commons and Langdell Hall to House dining halls to Mallinekrodt and Conant Laboratories.

The EHS also deals with issues which generate less publicity. Each of its seven branches has grown considerably since it was first instated either in accordance with federal regulations, as was the case with the asbestos control unit, or because the University felt that a watchful eye was needed to regulate certain areas of Harvard and scientific research Harvard started the insect control office and the biological safety office on its own initiative.

The 17 member radiation protection group is one of EHS's busiest. It is responsible for overseeing the approximately 2700 Harvard workers who deal with radioactive material or X-ray machines. The group deals particularly frequently with researchers who are working on cancer related projects in Harvard's labs and teaching hospitals. It also watches over such matters as the disposal of radioactive wastes, the training of approximately 500 people annually to deal with radio-iodine materials and accident investigation.

"When a person is found who has an uptake in radio-iodine it is up to us to determine how they got it, what the levels are, and how to resolve the problem," says Johnson. "It is also up to us to monitor the labs for contamination for those working with radio-nucleotides, whether it is on their hands, clothing the benches, or floors."

At one teaching hospital, "minor levels of contamination resulted when researchers were not properly checking their hands," Johnson notes. When such cases occur, Johnson's unit corrects the problem and delivers "a stirring lecture to impress on the person the hazards involved and to tell him to check his hands daily with a geiger counter."

Johnson notes that while Harvard labs have never had to deal directly with radiation "overexposures," there have been cases of significant and positive exposures. When he came to the EHS in 1959, he says, the radiation protection program was in a "helter skelter state," and there were several violations of federal regulations such as improper disposal of radioactive wastes, licensing violations and the improper use and handling of isotopes.

Since then, however, the University's handling of radioactive materials has been revamped so successfully that in the most recent of the Nuclear Regulatory Committee's annual inspections, only minor violations such as improperly posted signs and food in the laboratories were reported.

"We try to maintain exposures to as low a level as possible, even below the legal limits," Frank W. Osborne, associate radiation safety assistant in the EHS says. According to John K. McCarey, assistant chief technologist at Children's Hospital who has been involved in radiology at the hospital for the past 15 years, the group is "definitely on top of the most current subjects."

While most people are not directly affected by the work of the Radiation Protection Group, the EHS is also responsible for dealing with matters that crawl into the daily lives of most University employees and students. Alpert, who is officially known as the University's entomologist and pest control officer, is responsible, as Ferris says, for "wiping out the beasties" that infest the University.

Working as insect exterminator, however, is only a part of his job. He also identifies pests spotted in any of the University's buildings, especially the museums, laboratories, and libraries. In addition, he lectures Harvard personnel on how to reduce insect infection.

It often happens, he says, that the libraries or research labs like the MCZ will receive a shipment of research specimens from a foreign land, and some unknown insects crawl out. The researchers worry that their books or supplies will be destroyed.

Thus, as part of his daily routine, Alpert commonly receives calls to identify and eliminate insects ranging from some of the most common pests, like clothes moths or carpet beetles, to some of the most exotic. He has dealt with pests, such as Ornithonyssus bacoti, a tropical rat mite; Pollenia ruidis, a form of cluster fly; and a rare species of beetle larva that was found in a shipment of books at the MCZ.

Alpert works at sites all across the campus, but because his office was established only in 1981, he says he has not had time to inspect and treat all the areas of the University suffering from insect problems. "There has been improvement," he notes, "but I've only dealt with a fraction of the University." Until now, most of his work has been done at the medical area, the libraries and some of the University's kitchens. He estimates that he receives about 20 calls a day to do insect identifications.

As biological safety officer of the EHS, Lynn Harding handles jobs ranging from monitoring research of recombinant DNA and gene-splicing to supervising the removal of micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi from any University buildings. Harding's group implements the safety guidelines set by Harvard's bio-safety committee on genetic research, but it does not make any ethical decisions. "These issues haven't really come into play yet, but there may be a day when this will affect us." she notes.

In its present role, the office is more involved in making sure that all the research labs meet federal guidelines, and that the researches are aware of the regulations. For example, Harding says, when a researcher wants to inject a virus into mice he or she must take certain safety precautions so that other researchers as well as other animals in the laboratory are protected.

Characteristic of the work of the biological safety office is their monitoring of a special "P-3" lab constructed in 1977-78. The lab, which features specialized airflow and ventilation, access, and safety procedures is designed for work that is considered potentially hazardous and highly experimental. Safety measures also include a "negative air-pressure" gadget which, in the event of any mishap occurring during an experiment, sucks in the air in the labs to prevent it from leaking outside.

When it was first established, the P-3 lab was used for experiments with human and animal genes that were considered highly dangerous at the time. Currently, the lab is not being used for any "high risk" experiments, yet Harding is quick to add. "If we need to use the lab for this type of work, we are ready to reactivate it."

When Johnson spots a case of contamination, he delivers "a stirring lecture to impress on the person the hazards involved and to tell him to check his hands daily with a geiger counter."