Plan to close government health agency irks scientists

WASHINGTON — Medical specialists and former military officials are protesting the planned dismantling of a Defense Department health agency whose origin dates to the Civil War, saying the move would eliminate an invaluable tool in the understanding of disease.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) is scheduled to be broken up as part of the process that will shutter Walter Reed Army Medical Center by 2011.

With more than 800 employees, the AFIP provides pathology consultation, research and medical education for the military, other federal agencies and the civilian medical community.

It has a repository of 95 million tissue samples that helps government scientists track disease and provide second opinions in difficult pathology cases.

The agency's advocates have urged the Defense Department to consider transferring the pathology services to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. That idea has been backed by 30 groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Society for Clinical Pathology and the National Association of Medical Examiners.