Biologist’s Story of Exposure to Engineered Virus

Becky McClain raised safety concerns while working at Pfizer’s Biosafety Level 2 lab in Connecticut in 2000.
Three years later, she says the unaddressed issues led to her being exposed to a genetically modified lentivirus, leaving her disabled.
Her exposure led to a decade-long fight to understand her illness and obtain records, leading to her becoming a whistleblower and a court battle with Pfizer.
She won a lengthy legal battle and is free to share her story, after attempts to silence her.
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The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration finalized a rule in 2024 that would cut the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica in half.
But miners in coal country worry that MSHA is not pushing to enforce it and lawmakers want to walk the rule back.
Some angry retired miners with black lung are demanding that President Donald Trump honor the promises he made to those who voted for him.
Implementation of the silica rule was delayed in April after industry groups sued the government and filed an emergency request to block it.
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Housecleaner Maria Florinda Rios Perez, 32, went to the wrong address in Whitestown, Indiana, and was shot and killed.
Whitestown police responded to a report of a possible home invasion, but found Perez dead on the front porch of the home.
Her husband witnessed the shooting unfold just steps away from his wife.
The police say the investigation into the shooting remains open.
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The Connecticut Department of Labor has received an $8 million federal training grant, with a focus on safety.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration is designed to enhance training programs in sectors that face persistent labor shortages.
Those sectors include construction, manufacturing, healthcare and transportation.
Participants will receive hands-on instruction in hazard recognition, safe equipment operation and injury prevention.
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