By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite complaints from U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the nation’s main livestock organizations support moving the country’s main animal disease lab from Plum Island, N.Y. to a site on the U.S. mainland.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) said the Plum Island facility cannot continue to operate in its current state, and that there are serious drawbacks to building a new facility – or refurbishing the existing one – on the island. A new national laboratory for researching and diagnosing foreign animal diseases should be located in an area with small livestock and wildlife populations, an NPPC spokesman said in congressional testimony last week.

The five mainland sites for a new National Bio and Agri-Defense Facility (NBAF) are Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hosted a hearing on a replacement facility for the 54-year-old Plum Island Animal Disease Center located off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., where research and development of vaccines take place.

“The location of the NBAF must be based on assessed risks rather than on which entity is willing to build such a facility,” said Howard Hill, a veterinarian and COO of Iowa Select Farms, who testified on behalf of NPPC.

The NPPC told the subcommittee that each area should be assessed for:

•Susceptible animal populations that could be exposed to an outbreak should disease organisms escape from the facility.
•The ability of the federal and state governments to quickly control and eradicate a disease.

•The impact of an outbreak on the local environment and its wildlife.

•The economic impact to the area’s livestock industry if an outbreak occurred.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversees Plum Island.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA) President-elect Gary Voogt emphasized the need for a new diagnostic and research facility to protect American agriculture from foreign animal diseases.
Voogt, a Marne, Mich. cattle producer, told committee members that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could be devastating. This disease has not been found in the United States since 1929, but is still a problem in many foreign countries.

“The DHS proposal to close the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and move live foot-and-mouth virus to the mainland U.S. is utterly baffling,” Dingell said. “Following an extensive investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Committee staff, seven months later, the DHS proposal remains most curious.
“Foot-and-mouth is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. We know from recent incidents in the United Kingdom that it can escape from even a high-level biosafety lab. And we know that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could have a catastrophic effect on the livestock industry here in the U.S., just as it did in the U.K. in 2001. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the Committee staff just two days ago that an accidental outbreak in the U.S. could cause as much as $57 billion in damages.”

Cattlemen support construction of a state-of-the-art research facility to replace Plum Island, but the NCBA is not advocating for a specific location. “It is imperative that the needs of the agricultural community not be lost in the expanding focus of the Department of Homeland Security,” said Voogt. “USDA’s authority must be retained and supported to continue its responsibility of conducting research on all foreign animal diseases.”

Dingell said DHS has the burden of proving why a move is necessary.

“GAO was unable to find a scientific reason for the move,” he said. “They found apparent agreement that the current Plum Island lab needs substantial renovation, but they found no justification for moving the lab to the mainland.”