May 24 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate inaugurated the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kans., Wednesday.
The facility will take on the tasks previously assigned to the Department of Homeland Security’s Plumb Island Animal Disease Center facility, which is located off the coast of Long Island and has been in operation since the 1950s.
“Historically, the United States did not have a laboratory facility with maximum biocontainment (BSL-4) space to study high-consequence zoonotic diseases affecting large livestock, and U.S. scientists had to rely on other countries’ facilities for that type of research,” the USDA says in a profile of the facility on the agency’s website.
“A new facility with enhanced biocontainment capabilities and modern laboratory designs is necessary,” the USDA said.
In February, Ann Linder, a researcher at Harvard Law School, and Dale Jamieson, an expert on environmental and animal protection at NYU, published an Op Ed in the journal Science, warning that the United States has “blind spots,” when it comes to research into biological threats and animal diseases.
“What is needed is not simply for agencies to do their jobs better or to paper over the gaps, but a fundamental restructuring of the way that human-animal interfaces are governed” Jamieson and Linder wrote.
“America’s farmers, ranchers and consumers count on our researchers to understand, monitor for and develop solutions to combat a variety of high-consequence animal pathogens, and a facility of this magnitude positions us to respond,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The project to create the NBAF facility has been in development since 2006, and the Manhattan, Kan., location was selected in 2009.
“As the first facility of it’s kind in the United States, the innovative and cutting-edge solutions our scientists and partners can produce here will lead efforts to protect public health and address new and emerging diseases for many years to come,” said USDA Chief Scientist Chavonda Jacobs-Young.
The facility will be cohabitated by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The facility was inaugurated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Manhattan Mayor Mark Hatesohl; Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kans.; former Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kans.; and Kansas State University President Richard Linton; and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.