Foot and Mouth. The truth for America
- From: Pat Gardiner <pat.gardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:04:36 +0100
Pat's Note: It is pretty sad to see how often America's Homleland
Security is compromomised by lies promolgated by Britain's corrupt
government vets.
I will leave our American readers to ge in touch with Athens.
Foot and Mouth 2001 did not originate in "contaminated beef from
overseas."
It was a deliberate lie spread by Britain's State Veterinary Service
in 2001 via Sky News and intended to transfer the blame to Britain's
very efficient Customs and Excise service.
I was speaking to Sky News that very night and reported the attempt to
Customs overnight receiving an acknowledgement in writing early the
following morning.
Later, in the final veterinary and other reports, no source was ever
found.
It was however almost certainly a live pig import probably from China
that was the index case in 2001 in East Anglia.
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070608/news_20080706055.shtml
How safe is 'safe enough' for NBAF?
Study: NBAF most secure on island, but mainland sites kept in the
running
By Blake Aued | blake.aued@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Story updated at
12:01 AM on Sunday, July 6, 2008
While there practically is no chance viruses could escape from a
massive proposed federal biological research laboratory if it's built
on the mainland United States, the lab would be even safer on an
island.
How much safer is up for debate.
Building the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility off the coast of
New York is the safest of six options that include Athens, according
to a lengthy environmental impact study the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security released June 20.
Even David Lee, University of Georgia's vice president for research -
the man leading a Georgia consortium trying to draw the lab to
UGA-owned land on South Milledge Avenue - said he favors building the
NBAF on Plum Island if that New York location is the safest place for
it.
"If DHS believes Plum Island is truly going to be significantly safer,
they should choose to build it there," Lee said. "I believe it would
only be incrementally safer."
Plum Island is protected by more than a mile of water, and the area is
home to few livestock that could catch the dreaded, highly contagious
foot-and-mouth disease - facts noted in the Homeland Security report.
Rigorous safety procedures and advanced security technology virtually
are certain to prevent an outbreak, even on the mainland, of one of
the incurable animal diseases that will be studied at the NBAF, the
report says.
The only scenarios described in the report where an outbreak could
occur is a plane crash or a gas explosion, and even those unlikely
catastrophes would incinerate all the viruses inside except perhaps
the especially hardy foot-and-mouth.
And Lee argues that, even if a plane crashed directly into the lab and
foot-and-mouth viruses escaped, containing the outbreak would be much
easier than quelling one that occurred naturally.
Outbreaks in Britain in 1967 and 2001 caused by contaminated beef from
overseas resulted in the slaughter of 450,000 and 2.4 million cattle,
respectively, he said. An outbreak from a British lab in 2007 was
contained by killing only 2,200 cattle, he said.
It's far likelier that foot-and-mouth could enter the state from
overseas than escape from a high-security research lab, Lee said. If
an outbreak does happen in Georgia, local farmers would benefit from
the having the NBAF here, and UGA researchers would help contain it -
a key advantage, he said.
"We face the very real threat of these diseases coming here," he said.
Foot-and-mouth has broken out seven times on Plum Island, but only
among the livestock kept there for testing, according to the report.
The NBAF will be far safer than the aging Plum Island Animal Disease
Center, employing newer technology, redundant systems and layers of
security to bring the risk of pathogens escaping or being stolen down
to nearly zero.
Athens resident Grady Thrasher, founder of the anti-NBAF group FAQ,
said Plum Island is the clear choice for the NBAF, and Homeland
Security should opt to build it there.
"It would be irresponsible and basically abuse of trust in the
government" to build it elsewhere, he said.
Georgia and Mississippi are the worst options because the report says
those states have warm climates where mosquitoes could spread diseases
if an outbreak occurred, Thrasher said.
However, the report says the economic cost of an outbreak, $3.3
billion, would be less in Athens than some other sites, because the
region has less livestock than Texas or Kansas.
Except for dust and soil erosion during construction, building the lab
in Athens would not affect air quality or the nearby Middle Oconee
River's water quality, the report said. Construction would disturb
about half an acre of wetlands and some forest.
Construction noise probably will be audible at the State Botanical
Garden of Georgia and in nearby residential areas, the report said.
But the biggest impact would be visual.
Although the NBAF's main building would be set back about half a mile
from the road, it would be highly visible.
The 1,005-page study was conducted thoroughly and fairly, and Homeland
Security clearly learned lessons from past impact studies on
biological research labs that were criticized for not including enough
information on worst-case scenarios, Lee said.
But the impact statement gives little insight into where Homeland
Security will build the $500 million lab, although political
opposition and much higher construction costs makes Plum Island less
likely than Athens and the other sites - Manhattan, Kan.; San Antonio,
Texas; Flora, Miss.; or Butner, N.C.
"None of the sites were knocked out," Lee said. "The differences
between the sites were shades of gray."
Besides Plum Island, the five finalists rank about the same in terms
of safety, but differ slightly in construction costs, maintenance and
operating costs, infrastructure needs and impact on the environment.
All of those factors, plus community acceptance and nearby research
opportunities, will be considered when Homeland Security makes its
decision this fall.
Like Lee, consortium leaders in other states said the report leaves
all five finalists in contention.
"There is no one issue where Kansas failed," Tom Thornton, president
and chief executive of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, told the
Topeka Capitol-Journal. "There's nothing hiding in the woods."
Federal officials will visit the six final sites this summer to gather
public input on the report. Two hearings are scheduled for Aug. 14 at
the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Homeland Security also
will accept comments by mail, e-mail, fax and telephone through Aug.
25.
--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com
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