Manhattan's quest to build the government's National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility has hit another snag.
The House Appropriations Committee Wednesday voted to withhold $36 million in project funds for the NBAF from the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2009, which was passed by the House. Kansas lawmakers are likening the vote to dereliction of duty. More
NBAF Legislation Tracker
We have added two widgets to our side bar on the right, that will make it easier for you to track the latest legislative events regarding funding for the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF). Simply click on the legislative event you wish to learn more about. The information contained in the widgets is provided by GovTrack.
Source: The Washinton Post After four months of searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been included in a database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's deputy commander.
The vials contained some dangerous pathogens, among them the Ebola virus, anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the bacterium that causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer drawers, hadn't been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum samples from hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War.
"Nine thousand, two hundred undocumented samples is an extraordinarily serious breach," said Richard H. Ebright, a professor at Rutgers University who follows biosecurity. "A small number would be a concern; 9,200 . . . at an institution that has been the focus of intense scrutiny on this issue, that's deeply worrisome. Unacceptable." More
Texas Group Sues DHS over Selection of Kansas Site for NBAF
A Texas consortium is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over its rejection of a San Antonio site for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.
The consortium will ask a federal judge next month to issue an injunction blocking the awarding of bids for NBAF, a $650-million lab that will be the nation's premier biodefense research facility. In December, DHS selected a site on the Manhattan, KS, campus of Kansas State University for NBAF, which will replace a 50-year-old lab on Plum Island, NY. More
~ Congressional Research Service Report for Congress ~ March 5th, 2009
“Policymakers have become increasingly interested in the oversight of these facilities following reports of accidents, regulatory noncompliance, and community resistance. The increase in highcontainment laboratory capacity has raised new policy questions and emphasized existing ones. How much laboratory capacity is enough? What is the necessary federal investment? Should laboratories be consolidated or dispersed? What plans exist to coordinate multiple agency efforts to expand high-containment laboratory capacity? Does increasing laboratory capacity increase the risk of accidents and the opportunity for purposeful misuse? What is an acceptable balance between the benefits these laboratories provide and the risks they pose?”
Decision to relocate Plum Island facility to Kansas disregarded public comments - The Praire Star
By Max Thornsberry, R-CALF USA President - Region VI Director
On Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security officially announced that the Plum Island,N.Y., facilities that currently conduct research on dangerous and highly contagious animal health diseases - such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) - will be relocated to Manhattan, Kan., smack-dab in the heart of cattle country. The new facility will be called the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).
What is disheartening about this announcement (on Jan. 12) is that the deadline for comments from the public on the Manhattan Campus Site's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was midnight on Jan. 12. This tells us in no uncertain terms that the bureaucrats already had made up their minds to approve the Kansas location and chose to blatantly disregard any concerns the public may have submitted in formal comments.
I am truly blessed to live in Granville County, where the concept of "we the people" is alive and well. I am privileged and honored to know such extraordinary people, who in the face of overwhelming odds prevailed. Though the final decision has yet to be made, it appears that the National Bio- and Agro Defense Facility is not coming to North Carolina.
I extend thanks to all those who signed petitions, displayed signs, wrote, called, e-mailed and spoke to raise awareness. Their efforts caused many to reevaluate their positions.
I am also grateful to the media, which, through newspapers, radio and TV spread the people's concerns.
And I appreciate the public officials who openly opposed the facility, and those who worked behind the scenes against it. They gallantly served "we the people."
TERRY TURNER Butner
The Department of Homeland Security has selected Manhattan, Kansas to host the NBAF
Homeland Security announced today (12/4) during a press conference that Kansas has been selected to host the NBAF. A 48-acre site on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., was preferred over sites in Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas for the research facility, the final environmental study says. More
Farewell, Butner: NBAF reportedly headed to Kansas - The Triangulator
Granville Anti-NBAF Group Reminds Federal and State Agencies of “Promise” to Stop Bio-Hazard Lab
In the final days before the Dept. of Homeland Security announces its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) with evaluation of potential sites for its proposed massive biohazard lab (NBAF), the Granville Non-Violent Action Team is sending a message to federal and state officials that there’s no question the fight will only intensify if a site at Butner is fingered as likely. At the July public hearing on the Draft EIS, Bill McKellar, a GNAT leader and Butner pharmacist made clear his group’s “promise to fight” with a strong legal action to a siting in Butner. More
Georgia Vet school leak kept quiet UGA's liaison panel at first not told of mishaps - OnlineAthens.com
“The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine didn't inform a community liaison committee about potentially serious leaks in a high-security biocontainment building until reporters learned about the leaks”. More
Another frightening new government report is heightening fears about the safety of U.S. biodefense laboratories that study some of the world's deadliest germs. The latest worry: Intruders could easily break into two of the labs due to lax security.
The latest government study, initially obtained by The Associated Press and released publicly Thursday, found that intruders could easily break into two laboratories handling organisms that could cause illnesses with no cure.
Two House lawmakers and members of a new citizen coalition — people "living in the shadow" of these labs — say the defensive biowarfare program has expanded too fast since Sept. 11, 2001. Security measures have not caught up, they said. More
Read the GAO Report - Biosafety Laboratories: Perimeter Security Assessment of the Nation's Five BSL-4 Laboratories Summary - Full Report
North Carolina State Auditor Les Merritt joins state Senator Doug Berger in requesting the NCC-NBAF Consortium formally withdraw Butner, North Carolina as a site for the National Bio Agro Defense Facilty (NBAF) project
(Letter was signed by Les Merritt in late Sept, Click on image to enlarge the letter)
Floor drains overflowed twice in the past two weeks at a high-security animal research building on the University of Georgia campus, requiring decontamination of a part of the building.
But officials said in both instances, the new building's containment systems worked properly and no contaminated water left UGA's Animal Health Research Center - the AHRC, pronounced "ark" for short.
No workers were harmed or contaminated, and the one research project being conducted in the area was not jeopardized, said building manager Mike Mispagel.
The biocontainment building on Carlton Street near East Campus Road officially reopened in July. Planning for the AHRC began in 1978, and UGA had a grand opening for the building in 1999. But inspectors soon found widespread serious flaws in the building, which was eventually gutted and rebuilt from the inside - tripling the price tag from $21 million to $63 million. More
Mikulski puts study requirement in funding bill - The Frederick News-Post
Congress' final spending bill for this session requires a review of the public health and safety risk assessments associated with the expansion of biodefense labs at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., announced Thursday she had included the instruction in a $600 billion consolidated spending bill, which passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and should pass the Senate by week's end, according to a statement from the senator's office.
As written, the language requires the Secretary of Defense to arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to do the study. More
National Citizen Coalition Appeals to Congress To Impose A Moratorium on Bio-defense Build-up and Investigate Red Flags
Granville Non Violent Action Team (GNAT) has joined with citizen groups throughout the U.S. in an appeal to Congress to investigate the current expansion of the United States biodefense program and the lack of comprehensive oversight, transparency and accountability. The allied groups call on Congress to press for an immediate halt to development of new biodefense facilities and an operational stand-down of existing programs until the many serious questions have been resolved.
Each member organization represents its own unique constituency in seven states, which are affected by eight existing or potential federally funded high containment biodefense labs. Three of the coalition groups represent communities considered for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposed National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility (NBAF). The communities represented by GNAT and No NBAF in Kansas are currently undergoing the final site selection process and are awaiting the release of DHS’s Final Environmental Impact Statement due out late this year. Columbia, Missouri, represented by the Mid-Missouri Branch of WILPF, was eliminated from NBAF consideration late last year.
An intense debate exists within the scientific community as to whether the new “biodefense” research, including that contemplated for the NBAF, is relevant to or would be effective in protecting the population against a biological attack. And even as funding has increased exponentially for biodefense research, funding for local preparedness against potential natural or lab-generated outbreaks has been slashed.
Policy group calls US biodefense progress mediocre
A bipartisan commission of former US government officials , in issuing a report card today on the federal government's progress toward preventing terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), gave the nation a C- for its efforts to reduce the threat of bioterrorism.
The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) released its report at a press conference in Washington, DC. The 122-page report, posted on the PSA's Web site, gives the nation an overall grade of C for the measures it has taken to reduce the terrorism threat since the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks.
The nonprofit group's 22-member advisory board includes several members of the 9/11 Commission and advisors to and members of past presidential administrations. The PSA is led by Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic representative from Indiana, and Warren Rudman, a former Republican senator from Washington. The group said the report card is a part of its larger effort to assess the US government's progress toward implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. More
Lawmakers Call on Bush to Suspend Construction of New Labs
“We have already held two hearings on the risk associated with the proliferation of high containment (Level 3 and 4) labs including the physical and personnel security issues related to their operations,” said Stupak. “What we have learned so far is troubling. We have found poor training, lax security and very little oversight and coordination by our government agencies. Perhaps most frightening is the fact that no single government agency is in charge of approving and monitoring Level 3 and 4 labs and their personnel. Nobody can tell us how many labs there are, who is working in the labs, what agents or pathogens are being worked on in the labs, and whether adequate background checks have been done on employees of the labs.” More
The next coffin nail was hammered into the proposed National Bio and Agro Defense Facility Monday night when Durham County Commissioners voted 4-1 to oppose the federal disease lab that could be sited in Butner.
The commission also took a stronger step of passing a resolution to draft a letter to the N.C. Consortium, which is lobbying the Department of Homeland Security for the lab, asking the group to withdraw its proposal. More
Homeland Security disregards experts in naming biolab site
This video series spotlights our efforts as we struggle to educate the public about the proposed NBAF in NC. Thanks to LibertyTubeTV for all of the hard work they put into the series and for helping GNAT and North Carolina,“Stop the NBAF”.
“Homeland Security’s DEIS for Bio-Defense Lab Lacks Design Specifics Necessary to Assess Risks and Low-Balls Impacts” Moreover, “Agency Acknowledges Potential for Fatal Infectious Diseases to Escape and Become Established in U.S. Mainland Environment”
The Human Rights Committee of John Umstead Hospital strongly opposes the placement of the NBAF in Granville County at the Umstead Farm.
An excerpt of the letter:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, James V. Johnson Mail stop #2100 245 Murray Lane, SW, Bldg. 410 Washington, DC 20528
Dear Directorate Johnson:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to build a new research facility, the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Research Facility,” or NBAF. The Umstead Research Farm, one of six locations on the final national list, is about two miles from John Umstead Hospital, a state psychiatric facility that admits over 5000 patients with severe psychiatric problems every year. Given the possible risks to the vulnerable population in the hospital, the Human Rights Committee of John Umstead Hospital strongly opposes the placement of the NBAF in Granville County at the Umstead Farm. Read or Download
Kansas scenario: Initial animals infected 5 - duration of simulation 27 days
(video opens in windows media player)
Germs,Viruses and Secrets: Governments Plans to Move Exotic Disease Research to the Mainland Hearing Information May 22, 2008
Rep. John Dingell threatens DHS with subpoenas, for not providing the Environmental Impact Statement to the GAO and the Congressional Subcommittee. Transparency?
“DHS has not been forthcoming in providing records and information requested by the Committee,” said Dingell. “In several instances, the Committee has only been provided copies of certain key records after Committee staff discovered their existence, despite the fact that we specifically requested all such records. This is simply not acceptable.”
“Dingell said that the Committee would continue its investigation into DHS’ proposal and warned DHS Undersecretary Jay Cohen that if the Department did not cooperate with the Committee and supply requested records and documents, the Committee could resort to subpoenaing information”.
Watch Rep. John Dingell question Jay Cohen concerning the DEIS and the statement of work.
Letter from Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee to DHS Secretary Micheal Chertoff
Letter from Rep. John Dingell and Bart Stupak of the Energy and Commerce Committee concerning the Farm Bill and the legislation controlling the Foot and mouth virus.
Click here to see all relevant documents to the Energy and Commerce Committee's Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 and 4 Laboratories investigations.
While there are understandable arguments in favor of relocating such a facility to the mainland, such as research cooperation with major universities, the National Grange firmly believes that the risks of doing so far outweigh the benefits.
The National Grange’s threat assessment concerns for locating the proposed NBAF, and especially the research facilities for animal diseases such as Foot-and-mouth, on the mainland fall into three broad categories:
Insufficiency to implement protocols and procedures that would prevent an accidental or intentional release of harmful pathogens from the facility;
A possible agroterrorist attack against, or in the vicinity of, the NBAF that deliberately releases pathogens and causes mass confusion; and
Ancillary economic and social damage to farming and rural communities within the vicinity of the NBAF due to the “perceived risk” of such an outbreak. More
Read Leroy Watson, Legislative Director of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry Testimony Before The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
An excerpt:
“If the disease works its way into the wildlife population there may be no physical means to enforce a plan to destroy and dispose of infected populations of wildlife. For example, according to the North Carolina Department of Fish and Wildlife, the deer population in the vicinity of the proposed NBADF facility in that state is about 45-50 animals per square mile. That means within a 50 mile radius of the facility there would conservatively be a population of 35,000 deer. According to Dr. John Fischer, professor at the University of Georgia college of Veterinary Medicine and Director of the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, “There are no plans in place to systematically depopulate wildlife to control an FMD outbreak,” both because, in his view, it is “…physically impossible and socially unacceptable.” Lacking the physical ability or political will to control an FMD outbreak in both the domestic as well as wild animal populations, it is nearly inevitable in the view of the National Grange that even a minor outbreak of FMD in the vicinity of the NBAF could spread well beyond the initial containment areas.”
Is the National Bio Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) new to you? Below are some previous news articles that will give you an understanding of the history.More information is available on the reports page and our News page
A note about the picture: This map shows the immediate distribution area of viral pathogens on Plum Island in the event of a terrorist attack or an accidental leak.
Plum Island: Still a Good Place to Study Horrors By Jennifer Landes - The East Hampton Star
A Department of Homeland Security report examining Plum Island’s suitability for advanced study of diseases potentially harmful to humans has concluded that if an accidental release of pathogens occurred there it would cause the least harm, as compared to five other sites being considered for a new facility.
Still, Representative Tim Bishop remains confident that Plum Island will not be chosen. “The findings of this draft environmental impact statement do not alter my position that Plum Island should remain as a Biosafety Level 3 facility and not be converted to a Biosafety Level 4 facility,” he said this week. “With Senator Clinton and other leaders, I have repeatedly advocated this position to the Department of Homeland Security and I will continue to hold the officials at D.H.S. to their assurances that Plum Island will not become a Level 4 facility.”
The Plum Island Animal Disease Center is being examined along with proposed sites in Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas for a facility that would not study notorious Level 4 diseases such as anthrax and Ebola, but rather would examine those already at Plum Island, including foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever. It would add other Biosafety Level 3 diseases to the list of those studied, such as African swine fever, Rift Valley fever, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and Japanese encephalitis. Of those, Rift Valley fever and Japanese encephalitis could affect humans. More
Report compares Plum Island to mainland sites for new lab
The Suffolk Times - New York
Plum Island is the best place for a new biosafety level four research facility in terms of the economic consequences that would result should the deadly foot and mouth disease virus be released from the lab, according to the draft environmental impact statement issued by the federal Department of Homeland Security on Friday.
The economic losses as a result of such a release at Plum Island would total an estimated $2.8 billion in Suffolk County, compared with estimated losses of $4.2 billion in Riley County, Kan., the location of one of five alternative sites for the construction of a new biosafety level four lab, the first of its kind for the study of animal and zoonotic diseases in the United States.
DHS has evaluated the six sites and concluded that the construction and operation of a new National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility, wherever it is eventually located, will have "minimal" adverse environmental impacts, according to the DEIS.
An outbreak of one of the most contagious animal diseases from any of five locations the White House is considering for a new high-security research laboratory would be more devastating to the U.S. economy than from the isolated island laboratory where such research is now conducted, says a report published Friday.
The 1,005-page Homeland Security Department study said chances of such an outbreak - with estimated loses of more than $4.2 billion - would be "extremely low" if the research lab were designed, constructed and operated according to government safety standards.
Still, it calculated that economic losses in an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could surpass $4 billion if the lab were built near livestock herds in Kansas or Texas, two options the Bush administration is considering. That would be nearly $1 billion higher than the government's estimate of losses blamed on a hypothetical outbreak from its existing laboratory on Plum Island, N.Y. More
