September 22, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline is continuing to deal with fallout from its disclosure that it dumped 45 liters of live polio virus solution into Belgium’s Lasne River on Sept. 2.
The company said that employees accidentally released the the contaminants in the Belgian city of Rixensart but stressed that the water that was contaminated is not discharged to the supply network for drinking water.
Still, Belgian news sources have reported that local health authorities were directly involved at the request of the Minister of Public Health, including the Scientific Institute of Public Health and the Supreme Council of Health who conducted a risk analysis and found no public health risk for the population.
However, a precautionary booster dose of polio vaccine was recommended to persons who have been in contact with water from the Lasne from Sept. 2 until the date when the precautionary measures will be lifted later this month.
So far samples of mud and water from the treatment plant of Rosieres, Lasne and Dyle have shown no presence of the polio virus.
