The Shadow
Lab Safety
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers have intensified scrutiny of laboratory biosafety and research facilities that receive federal funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
As the former Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman and current Health Subcommittee Chairman on Energy and Commerce, I continue to help lead investigative work of federal research labs and the NIH.
The NIH consists of 27 Institutes and Centers. The NIH maintains a vast and expansive network of labs inside and outside the United States.
One such lab is Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana.
Rocky Mountain Laboratories exercises a massive research portfolio. The lab studies various diseases, including but not limited to Salmonella, chronic wasting disease, relapsing fever and plague.
POLITICO reports that scientists there are credited with breakthroughs involving Lyme disease and Ebola, among others.
Rocky Mountain operates as a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, which is the highest safety designation. Scientists at Level 4 labs tend to deal with diseases that are life-threatening and must follow the most stringent security requirements.
According to a webpage from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), only a handful of U.S. labs are qualified Level 4 labs.
However, within the last year, the Montana lab was linked to two concerning events.
One incident occurred in November 2025, when a Rocky Mountain worker was bitten by an infected lab monkey!
The monkey was infected with a lethal tickborne illness known as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes the severe illness as the most widespread viral hemorrhagic fever.
After news broke of the monkey bite incident, questions swirled about the Montana lab, its safety protocols and how such a lab incident could happen.
Controversy did not stop there.
In June 2026, two NIH researchers from Rocky Mountain were criminally charged by the Department of Justice!
Their crime?
Smuggling monkeypox into the United States!
According to the Department of Justice, the two scientists were traveling on a commercial plane back to the U.S. from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. The Congo is the epicenter of a current Ebola virus outbreak.
When the scientists arrived in Detroit, they lied to Customs and Border Patrol officers about the contents of a black case. The scientists claimed their case contained diagnostics and testing equipment.
Federal law enforcement discovered and tested 113 vials, many of which contained deactivated monkeypox virus. Another vial contained chickenpox and a couple contained human DNA.
It is clear that both researchers have experience working with infectious pathogens. In fact, Dr. Vincent Munster led Rocky Mountain’s virus ecology section at that time.
Upon hearing about these incidents, I wanted to get answers.
This August, I traveled to Montana, where I received a tour of the Level 4 lab and a briefing. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was a vocal opponent of COVID-19 lockdown policies, joined me to hear from the lab’s researchers.
Explaining the monkey bite incident, the researchers had put the lab monkey under anesthesia. As one worker held the monkey up to their chest, the worker accidentally tapped the back of the monkey’s jaw.
On reflex, the monkey subconsciously bit the worker.
The worker received immediate treatment for their minor wound, and after appropriate precautions, returned to Rocky Mountain to continue research.
In research settings, animal-handling incidents can occur despite established safety and handling protocols.
Researchers I met with at Rocky Mountain also said they were ashamed and felt betrayed by Munster’s actions.
The Munster case seemed to be a case of arrogance.
Because he was a leading scientist, the theory goes that Munster felt like the normal rules should not apply to him. But more will become clear as the criminal charges proceed.
We have seen too often recently that some scientists share this philosophy, which is why we need to pass specific rules banning risky research, such as my legislation, the Risky Research Review Act.
Rogue activity in the “name of science” must always be confronted. Thanks in part to my efforts to confront these issues, the group responsible for funding dangerous coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, was debarred from getting contracts with the U.S. government.
As infectious disease research develops, Congress has a responsibility to protect the American people. I will continue my vigilance on improving safety compliance, my investigative work and my exploration of additional Congressional action that can be taken regarding biolaboratory safety.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
