LANSING —Workers from the Michigan Biologic Products Institute, the state’s vaccine laboratory, held a protest in Lansing December 22, 1997 to highlight what they see as unnecessary delays in the privatization of their state workplace.

The Michigan state legislature approved the sale of the Institute a year ago, but since that time the sale has not gone forward because Representative Lingg Brewer has worked to delay the final sale. Brewer has insisted that the value of the laboratory is worth more than its valuation (from zero to $10.5 million) by a top accounting firm. According to an Associated Press article by Greta Guest, which appeared in the Detroit Free Press and other newspapers, "Brewer says it is worth up to $78 million, because the lab is the only federally approved manufacturer of anthrax vaccine." The article did not say how Brewer determined the $78 million figure.

The Institute, which has lost money in every year of its existence, needs a major cash infusion. Last March, the Food and Drug Administration threatened to shut down the lab due to a host of needed repairs.