Mers sample import ‘broke rules but was safe’

The president of the Pasteur Institute has admitted that the organisation broke French regulations when transporting biological samples last year from its South Korean outpost, but added that there were no risks to public health.

Christian Bréchot, president of the Pasteur Institute, told Science magazine on 24 October that the institute’s transportation of biological samples from Korea to France, first reported by The Korea Times on 5 October, did break biosecurity rules.

However, he backed up the Pasteur Institute’s previous statement on the affair by saying that the samples, which the Korean newspaper had alleged contained Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) coronavirus, were destroyed soon after their arrival in Paris.