A new book by investigative reporter Alison Young reveals there were "repeated and egregious" safety breaches and government oversight failures at the U.S. Military's Fort Detrick, Maryland, lab before the military shut down the lab in 2019.

Editor's note: In 2019, federal lab regulators ordered the prestigious U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to halt all work with dangerous pathogens, such as Ebola and anthrax, which can pose a severe threat to public health and safety.

Army officials had assured the public there was no safety threat and indicated that no pathogens had leaked outside the laboratory after flooding in 2018. But in a new book released April 25, investigative reporter Alison Young reveals there were repeated and egregious safety breaches and government oversight failures at Fort Detrick, Maryland, that preceded the 2019 shutdown. This article is adapted from "Pandora's Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk."

Unsterilized laboratory wastewater from USAMRIID at Fort Detrick, Maryland, spewed out the top of a rusty 50,000-gallon outdoor holding tank, the pressure catapulting it over the short concrete wall that was supposed to contain hazardous spills.

It was May 25, 2018, the Friday morning before Memorial Day weekend, and the tank holding waste from labs working with Ebola, anthrax and other lethal pathogens had become overpressurized, forcing the liquid out a vent pipe.