Texas picks up on the Pibright fiasco
- From: "Pat Gardiner" <patgardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:17:14 -0000
Pat's Note
Texas picks up on the Pirbright fiasco.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/212343
Plans for 'agro-defense' lab stir concern
By Emily Ramshaw
The Dallas Morning News
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.19.2007
PLUM ISLAND, N.Y. - For a half-century, the nation's only experiments on the
world's most devastating livestock virus have occurred on this clandestine
government-run island, separated from the mainland by more than a mile of
choppy water.
Now foot-and-mouth disease may be about to come ashore.
Five states are competing to win a mammoth biodefense facility - a new $500
million federal research center that would house foot-and-mouth and other
highly infectious animal diseases.
The National Bio and AgroDefense Facility is intended to replace the Plum
Island labs, which homeland security officials say are outdated, inadequate
and difficult to secure. The location will be chosen next fa
ll.
But bringing foot-and-mouth research onto the mainland - a move that
requires an act of Congress - has posed a quandary for ranchers and farmers,
who want the best possible research but fear a U.S. epidemic.
Two outbreaks on British farms this summer, both linked to a government lab
and a private vaccine manufacturer, have done little to bolster their
confidence. A 2001 pandemic in Britain shut down trade and forced the
country to incinerate 7 million sheep and cattle, costing more than $16
billion.
"Of course we support a new lab," said Texas Cattle Feeders Association
President Ross Wilson, whose organization markets more than 6 million cattle
a year in feed lots - 30 percent of the nation's supply. "The question
becomes: Can we do it safely on the mainland?"
The science says yes, said York Duncan, president of the Texas Research Park
in San Antonio, one of six sites on the short list for the new facility.
Foot-and-mouth doesn't affect humans, just cloven-hoofed animals like cows,
pigs, sheep and goats.
And while a U.S. foot-and-mouth outbreak would be catastrophic to livestock
industries, far more deadly diseases are already studied in high-security
labs in San Antonio, he said - labs with flawless track records.
Plum Island became the nation's foot-and-mouth research base in the
mid-1950s, following outbreaks of the virus in Mexico and Canada. The U.S.
hasn't seen a case of foot-and-mouth since 1929.
Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com
.
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