Blowing the Whistle on Biosafety

Becky A. McClain, a retired 23-year career biotech worker and research scientist, is known as the first successful biotech whistleblower who spoke and reported on biolab safety issues of public concern.

On April 1, 2010, McClain won a federal court whistleblower trial against Pfizer, Inc., which centered on free speech rights concerning biosafety and public health.

The Biotech Whistleblower-the Scientist

McClain is a retired biotech research scientist with a profession that spanned 23 years. She was employed throughout her career working in both academia and industry as a molecular biologist in the U.S. and abroad in various BL-2 (biohazard level-2) biotech labs and institutes. As an experienced molecular biologist, McClain was highly skilled in the state-of-the-art of genetic engineering technologies and biosafety.

McClain worked within biotech research fields that included molecular genetics, neurobiology, developmental biology, vaccine development, genetic technologies, and embryonic stem cell research where she generated patented inventions and authored published science journal articles.

McClain has a biology and public health background.  She holds a Master of Science degree in biology from the University of Texas School of Public Health, and a B.A. in biology from Indiana University.

Ethics in Science

McClain is an advocate for responsible biotechnology and ethical science.

Throughout her 23-year career as a biotech worker and scientific researcher, McClain was committed to the integrity of following the professional and ethical standards of scientific methodology. 

As a molecular biologist, McClain also felt a strong professional duty to practice safe and responsible biotechnology and to uphold laboratory biosafety standards to protect worker safety and public health & safety.

From Scientist to Whistleblower

In 2003, McClain experienced unprecedented retaliation and injury after reporting unsafe and dangerous laboratory conditions at Pfizer, while working in an embryonic stem cell laboratory as a molecular biologist.

McClain was employed as a research scientist at Pfizer’s Groton Connecticut campus which housed approximately 6000 employees and scientists. There she worked in a BL2 (biohazard level-2) biolab facility within a genetic technology department that developed genetically engineered viruses, embryonic stem cells, and genome-altering technologies for human drug discovery. 

It was there, at Pfizer in a biolab and a department that developed advanced genetic technologies, when McClain first encountered continued serious biosafety problems of public health concern.

Retaliation for Raising Safety Issues

In the face of McClain’s serious health and safety reports to Pfizer management, her employer responded with intimidation, hostility, and denial of health and safety protections. Subsequently, McClain and other co-workers were harmed through exposures in the lab and fell ill.

Trade Secrets and Worker’s Health and Safety Rights

As McClain continued in her reports at work about lapses in biosafety and requests for her exposure records because of her failing health, Pfizer soon terminated her and denied McClain the exposure records necessary for her medical care. Pfizer claimed that trade secrets superseded her right to these important healthcare records.

This action catapulted McClain into a long legal battle against Pfizer for her health and safety rights as a biotech worker. From scientist to injured worker to whistleblower, McClain’s battle involved state and federal oversight agencies, as well as, taking civil legal action against Pfizer.

McClain vs. Pfizer, Inc.

On April 1, 2010, a unanimous jury in federal court found Pfizer guilty of retaliation and of willful, malicious, and reckless misconduct against McClain for reporting biosafety issues that were of public concern.

The jury awarded a $1.3M verdict plus punitive damages against Pfizer for their egregious misconduct and in violation of McClain’s speech to report safety issues involving exposures, illness, injury, unsafe working conditions, and unsafe laboratory practices within the biolab.

McClain’s Whistleblower Story is Important to the Public

McClain’s story and successful whistleblower battle against Pfizer provides a big picture of the status of biosafety in America. Her story has significant relevance to understanding the current state and culture of 21st century biosafety, of biotech workers’ health and safety rights, of biosafety oversight, and of the risks that biolabs pose to public health. 

In our post COVID-19 pandemic era, McClain’s story is critically relevant to understanding the probability of pandemic futures, and to the free speech rights that are necessary to protect the public from dangerous biolabs and egregious actors.

McClain is working to release a memoir and book, detailing her experience as a biotech whistleblower. She believes her book will open the public’s eye to what is really going on behind biotech’s laboratory doors regarding biosafety and public health and safety. Her memoir will be counted as a public interest story and historical record detailing the current state and culture of 21st century biosafety in biolabs.

Activist

McClain has since served as an advisor and on the board of directors of citizen groups and 501(c)(3) organizations as an advocate for biosafety, free speech protections, workers’ health and safety rights, and responsible biotechnology. She has given talks to the public and to worker and human rights groups at conferences and on the radio.

McClain has received awards for her advocacy to worker safety and public health and safety: Workplace Hero Award, June 30, 2011, Irving J. Selikoff Award, May 7, 2011, and the Callaway Award, December 8, 2010.

In addition to her activism toward worker rights, free speech, and responsible biotechnology, McClain resides in New Mexico with her husband, two cats, and family and friends, enjoying the Land of Enchantment and all its wonders.

Becky A. McClain can be reached at info@BeckyAMcClain.com