Scientist, UK
08-10-06
U.S. shortens list of bio-agro applicants
By John Dudley Miller
Department of Homeland Security cuts 29 proposed sites for new facility to just
18
In an unexpected announcement, the US Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) has named 18 sites in 11 states to advance in the competition for the
proposed $451 million National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). The
original list contained 29 applicants.
Among those that have survived this round of cuts, four sites are in Texas, three
are in Mississippi, and two each are in Kansas and Georgia.
For several months, the DHS Web site has maintained that the department would
announce a "short list of sites (or site) selected for further review" next month
(September 2006), and then prepare environmental impact statements for each
one. The announcement yesterday (August 9) said the short list will not be
announced until "the end of 2006," and the environmental assessments will begin
after that.
Edward Hammond, US director for the Sunshine Project, a biological weapons
watchdog group, said that the approaching November elections may explain
DHS's decision to add an extra round of competition that retains 62% of the
competing sites.
"A number of politicians have staked their reputations on some of these bids,"
Hammond said. "Maybe DHS [under a Republican administration] didn't want to
do any damage to some political folks by killing their bids at this potentially
sensitive stage of their campaigns." In the 11 states with sites still in the running,
seven of the governors and 18 of the 22 US Senators are Republicans.
DHS deputy press secretary did not respond to requests for comment.
The 500,000 square foot NBAF, to be built on 30 acres, will conduct research to
create vaccines and drugs to fight human diseases, foreign animal diseases like
hoof and mouth disease, and (zoonotic) animal diseases humans can catch.
Since DHS has stated it may create new bioterror diseases in order to develop
vaccines against them, critics worry that any secrecy about the facility will allow
the department to start an offensive bioweapon program, in possible violation of
the international Biological Weapons Convention.
The new facility will take over the research programs of the Plum Island Animal
Disease Center on Long Island, a 55-year old aging facility that will soon undergo
a $35 million upgrade to keep it open at least until the NBAF begins operating in
2013.
One surprising omission from the list of the 18 remaining sites is Iowa State
University. Near the school is the US Department of Agriculture's National
Animal Disease Center, which employs 250 people, Carol Moran, the location
administrator, told The Scientist. The university operates its own large, wellrespected animal research program.
"I can't imagine what the differentiating features would be that would have
excluded it," said Harley Moon, a former Plum Island director and an
emeritus professor at Iowa State. "Maybe an argument was made that USDA
not put all its eggs in one basket, so to speak," he told The Scientist, given that a
large number of USDA scientists will be employed at the NBAF. Picking sites that
aren't close to one of the largest USDA facilities will "disperse the effort more
across the country, for whatever reasons."
John Dudley Miller
jmiller@the-scientist.com
Links within this article
Department of Homeland Security Press Release, "DHS completes first downselect for potential sites to locate proposed National Bio and Agro-defense
Facility," August 9, 2006
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5790
J.D. Miller, "More applicants for US bio-agro lab," The Scientist, May 17, 2006
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23454/
US Department of Homeland Security, "National Bio and Agro-defense Facility:
Information for potential respondents."
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0802.xml
Edward Hammond
http://www.sunshine-project.org/
US Department of Homeland Security, "How to respond: frequently asked
questions."
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0808.xml
J.D. Miller, "Big renovations at NY Biolab," The Scientist, June 27, 2006
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23731/