IF YOU want to build the world鈥檚 largest laboratory for studying foot-and-mouth disease, put it on an island. That鈥檚 the latest advice to the US government, which is keen to site a 鈥淣ational Bio and Agro-Defense Facility鈥� on one of five potential sites on the mainland.
The mega-lab would replace the ageing Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which researches foot-and-mouth disease and other serious animal pathogens on an island close to New York. But in a scathing report issued on 22 May, the General Accountability Office accused the Department of Homeland Security of failing to conduct proper risk assessment studies for the planned move.
鈥淭he bottom line is that we don鈥檛 think the DHS has sufficient evidence to say it can be built safely on the mainland,鈥� says Nancy Kingsbury, author of the report.
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The GAO says mainland sites are too risky because a virus could escape and easily spread to nearby farms. That happened last year when foot-and-mouth virus escaped from a faulty pipe at a high-containment lab at the Institute for Animal 91色情片 in Pirbright, UK, causing outbreaks at eight neighbouring farms. GAO cites this as 鈥渢he best evidence in favour of an island location鈥�.
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