Three employees at USDA’s largest ag research center filed whistleblower complaints alleging years of mismanagement, delayed maintenance and staff cuts have pushed the Beltsville, Maryland, facility into decline. Reuters spoke with five current and one former employee of the facility who said that fume ventilation hoods in labs fail to meet code, fire alarms are left broken for months, wild temperature swings make work uncomfortable and undermine experiments, and even toilets and running water are often not functioning. The news agency reviewed hundreds of documents, photographs and videos the employees shared to support their claims.
USDA Research Center ‘Declining’
Three employees at USDA’s largest ag research center filed whistleblower complaints alleging years of mismanagement.
(USDA)
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