Funding Levels for Conservation Programs in the 2007 Farm Bill Page: 2 of 18
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The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for
Congress
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, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) engages in research on animal diseases not native to the United
States at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) off the coast of New York.
With the formation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, the
PIADC facility was transferred from USDA to DHS, though USDA continues its
research program at the facility. DHS has established a foreign animal disease
research program in cooperation with USDA at PIADC. DHS has identified the
facility as outdated and too limited to continue to be the primary research facility.
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 announced plans 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. The DHS plans to
select the site in 2008 and open NBAF in 2014. The final construction costs will
depend on the site location and may exceed the $451 million projected cost.
The plans announced by DHS to establish the NBAF have raised several issues
that may interest Congress. 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, prioritization, and investment in agricultural biodefense may be reassessed
once more high-containment laboratory space becomes available.
By law, research on foot and mouth disease (FMD) is not permitted on the U.S.
mainland. This policy would need to be changed before DHS could proceed with its
plans to conduct FMD research at NBAF if it were sited on the U.S. mainland. Two
bills introduced in the 110th Congress would modify this law (H.R. 1717 and H.R.
2419). These bills take different approaches to addressing this policy concern.
Although the PIADC laboratories are currently undergoing renovation and
expansion, DHS plans to decontaminate and decommission them following opening
of the proposed NBAF. Beyond that, the fate of Plum Island and its facilities remains
uncertain.
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Zinn, Jeffrey. Funding Levels for Conservation Programs in the 2007 Farm Bill, report, October 4, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc847778/m1/2/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.