July 1, 2008
FAS
"The National Bio-Defense and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress," updated on May 19, 2008.  In our opinion this report did not receive the media exposure necessary to inform and highlight the ongoing struggle against terrorists who plan to attack our country in methods the average citizen may not think about.  The primary mission of our local and Federal government is to protect the citizens. (FULL PDF Report)

Summary
The agricultural and food infrastructure of the United States is potentially susceptible to terrorist attack using biological pathogens. In addition to the impacts of such an attack on the economy, some animal diseases could potentially be transmitted to humans. These diseases are known as zoonotic diseases.

Scientific and medical research on plant and animal diseases may lead to the discovery and development of new diagnostics and countermeasures, reducing the risk and impact of a successful terrorist attack.

To safeguard the United States against animal disease, Congress has appropriated funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to engage in research at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), off the coast of New York, on animal diseases not native to the United States.

When creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, Congress transferred the PIADC facility from USDA to DHS. Both USDA and DHS, in cooperation with USDA, conduct foreign animal disease research at PIADC, but PIADC has been identified as outdated and too limited to continue as the primary facility for this research.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 tasks the Secretaries of Agriculture and Homeland Security to develop a plan to provide safe, secure, and state-of-the-art agriculture biocontainment laboratories for research and development of diagnostic capabilities and medical countermeasures for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases.  To partially meet these obligations, DHS has requested Congress to appropriate funds to construct a new facility, the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).

This facility would house high-containment laboratories able to handle the pathogens currently under investigation at PIADC, as well as other pathogens of interest. Six candidate sites have been identified, one of which is Plum Island. The DHS plans to select the site in 2008 and open NBAF in 2014. The final construction cost will depend on the site location and may exceed the $451 million projected total cost.

Additional expenses, such as equipping the new facility, relocating existing personnel and programs, and preparing the PIADC facility for disposition, may reach an additional $100 million. The DHS has not yet determined what actions to take with the PIADC when construction of the NBAF is completed.

The plans announced by DHS to establish the NBAF have raised several issues. Community concerns about safety and security, previously raised about PIADC and other laboratories being built to study dangerous pathogens, are also being raised about the NBAF. Coordination between DHS and USDA, as well as prioritization and investment in agricultural biodefense, may be reassessed once more highcontainment laboratory space becomes available.

By law, research on live foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus is not permitted on the U.S. mainland. This policy would need to be changed before DHS could conduct FMD research at NBAF if it were sited on the U.S. mainland. The conference agreement to the 2008 farm bill, H.R. 2419, as well as H.R. 1717, address possession of live FMD virus by DHS.
 
Introduction

The agricultural and food infrastructure of the United States is a key component of economic productivity and growth. A terrorist attack on this infrastructure could damage the public trust in agricultural safety and quality and the nation’s ability to provide food and other agricultural products.1 Additionally, many animal diseases can infect humans.2 These types of diseases are termed zoonotic. Scientific and medical understanding of such zoonotic diseases in their animal hosts may protect the animals themselves and could also lead to the discovery and development of new medical countermeasures for humans.

To safeguard the United States against the impacts of naturally occurring and intentional animal disease outbreaks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) engages in animal disease research, including research into highly contagious animal pathogens and animal diseases not native to the United States.3 Such research activities have historically been performed at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), located on an island near Long Island, NY.
FULL PDF Report
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The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) was founded in 1945 by scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. These scientists recognized that science had become central to many key public policy questions. They believed that scientists had a unique responsibility to both warn the public and policy leaders of potential dangers from scientific and technical advances and to show how good policy could increase the benefits of new scientific knowledge.

 

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