This is pure insanity at its governmental best..

[Teresa Heilevang]

This has "SET UP" written all over it!..


DHS: ’70% chance disease would escape’ from ‘mainland Plum Island’ biodefense lab     
New Study Questions Safety of Proposed Biodefense Laboratory
Martin Matishak
Global Security Newswire
November 16, 2010

WASHINGTON — An expert panel said yesterday the U.S. Homeland Security Department has not adequately gauged the potential risks associated with a proposed multimillion-dollar infectious-disease research laboratory in Kansas (see GSN, May 20 ).

There are “several major shortcomings” in a department risk assessment of its planned National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility near Manhattan, Kansas, according to a report by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The proposed site is roughly 120 miles west of Kansas City.

The facility’s construction is expected to cost between $500 million and $700 million. The 520,000-square-foot center, slated to begin construction in 2012, would study highly infectious animal-borne pathogens, some of which could pose a threat to humans. It would replace the Plum Island Disease Center located near Long Island, New York, which was established in 1937.

The new site would also be the world’s third Biosafety-Level 4 Pathogen laboratory to work with large animals. The other two such facilities are in Australia and Canada.

The DHS assessment, which wrapped up in June, found that there is a nearly 70 percent chance a disease would escape the laboratory during its planned 50-year operational lifespan. The earlier report estimated the economic losses from a postulated foot-and-mouth disease outbreak at $9 billion to $50 billion.

However, yesterday’s 146-page NRC analysis states that the actual amount could be “significantly higher” because the department’s assessment did not consider the dangers associated with daily upkeep of large animal holding rooms.

The earlier evaluation was also criticized for inadequately accounting for the planned facility’s proximity to Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine clinics, where large numbers of sick animals are treated, as well as the university’s football stadium, which has a capacity over 55,000. The large animal and human populations at those sites would be potentially susceptible to infections with a zoonotic agent, the report states. About 9.5 percent of the entire U.S. cattle inventory is raised within 200 miles of the Manhattan site.

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20101116_2865.php

[fightingquaker13]

I remember a large out break of Hoof and Mouth disease in the UK was traced to a medical lab. If I recall correctly there was a scare about a release of Marburg virus (an ebola like virus) from a lab near DC in the early '90s. Hell, I dated a med/grad student who was studying leukemia transmission. In order to study how the cancer was "turned on" at the celluular level, they mutated the cold virus to transmit leukemia and then exposed genetically altered mice to it. This struck me as a bad idea. It seems there are a lot of legit reasons to play with this stuff. It also seems pretty evident that at some point, it will get loose due to unavoidable human error. I mean, sooner or later stuff happens no matter how careful you are. All it takes is one "Oh sh!t moment" and you have a serious problem. Is it worth it?
FQ13

[ellis4538]

Sounds like a move from Kansas might be in order!

Seriously,


Richard

PS:  The government never takes suggestions from those who know seriously!

[tombogan03884]

That's where "Killer Bee's" came from, a case in a lab got knocked over.
This already happened back in the late 50's or early 60's at a nerve gas plant out west, whole lot of livestock died, no one ever admitted whether any people had or not.
Remember the beginning of the movie "The Stand"  that scared me worse than Randall Flagg ever could.

[Bill Stryker]

I bet this is an earmark for KS.
There is a government facility in Utah, Tooele Depot that plays with disposing of chemical weapons, aka storing them. You must ask why aren't they building this at an existing desert depot far from KSU? They already have the furnaces to dispose of the bad stuff.

[Sponsor]

[tt11758]

Don't be naive.  It's to be a bioweapons lab.  Guarantee it.  And WHY, do you suppose, do they want to put it out here in flyover country (where we bitterly cling to our religion and our guns)?

Just sayin.

[JC5123]

Don't be naive.  It's to be a bioweapons lab.  Guarantee it.  And WHY, do you suppose, do they want to put it out here in flyover country (where we bitterly cling to our religion and our guns)?

Just sayin.

Put it underground like they did in Resident Evil. I'll even guard the mansion for them...

[tombogan03884]

The one on Plum Island, at least in part, belongs to the Dept. of AGRICULTURE.
Underground makes sense, it's containable. But I still think of that damn Crow.