Bio-Safety Danger in U.S. Heartland!!!!

Why is a storehouse fordeadly diseases being placed in the middle of America’s ‘Beef Belt’?

By Frank Whalen

Despite funding and safety concerns, plans
are still in the works to replace the aging
Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which
houses the deadliest viruses, bacteria and
other pathogens in the world, with the new National
Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). With construction
already under way, some are wondering
why a project with such deadly implications is being
housed in the middle of the country’s “Beef Belt,” in
Manhattan, Kansas.
According to a recent article from the Journal of
the American Veterinary Medical Association, the
500,000-square-foot facility will “cost between $525
million and $575 million.” There will also be funding
allocated to “include public outreach to ensure that
all stakeholders surrounding the facility understand
the value of the proposedwork and the safeguards in
place that ensure the work will be done safely.”
The aging Plum Island facility (dating from 1954)
operates “biosafety level three” laboratories, which
refers to safety standards set by the Centers for Disease
Control. On the other hand, the NBAF will have
laboratories at biosafety level 4, the highest level,
which allows for expanded research of significantly
more virulent diseases.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
which is responsible for security at the labs, states
that the NBAF will cover the full gamut of diseases,
researching “high-consequence biological threats involving
human, zoonotic (i.e., transmitted from animals
to humans) and foreign animal diseases.”
In 2010, the Government Accountability Office
tasked a committee to assess DHS safety and security
plans. The results were not encouraging.
The committee found “that the probability of an infection
resulting from a laboratory release of FMDv
[the highly contagious and often fatal foot-and-mouth
virus, which attacks livestock] from the NBAF in
Manhattan, Kan. approaches 70 percent over 50 years,
with an economic impact of $9-$50 billion.” Officials
also stated they were “seriously concerned about the
current designswhich omit redundant HEPA [high efficiency
particulate air] filters for reasons of practicality
and cost savings. Any facility-design compromises
due to budgetary limitations will need to be
viewed as inconsistent with the mission of providing
a state-of-the-art facility with minimal risk of pathogen
escape from containment.”
Over the years, Plum Island has had its share of
controversy. Brian Dunning, host of the science news
website “Skeptoid,” wrote: “Twice in 2004, foot-andmouth
disease was accidentally released inside the
biocontainment area” and “in 1978, animals kept in
outdoor pens on Plum Island were found to have
been infected with foot-and-mouth disease.” He admits,
“[Plum Island’s] research included the development
of biological weapons prior to 1969.”
In the late 1990s, Dr. Patricia Doyle reported:
“PlumIsland had been featured inmany news reports
over the years for safety violations. In 1994, dead lab
birds had been found outside in open air in the corridor
of the exotic disease lab. Plum Island officially
denied research with birds, but I have confirmation
from a Plum Island worker that they did, indeed, research
birds as vectors of disease.” She added, “Birds
have been an efficient vector in the spread cycle of
West Nile virus,”which suggests that thewater barrier
around the island was a false safety net.
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Frank Whalen has been a radio talk show host for the past 17 years. For more
news and views from Frank, see www.frankwhalenlive.com.
Bio-Safety Danger in U.S. Heartland