Originally published February 28, 2008 - Oconee Leader

Article by Mike Sprayberry

The Department of Homeland Security February 19 hosted a public hearing in Athens to address community concerns about the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility that could soon replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center located on Plum Island, New York.

Athens is one of five locations still under consideration for the NBAF project, but the project has many Oconee County residents concerned due to the proximity of the proposed site for the facility. If built in Athens, NBAF would be located near the intersection of South Milledge Ave. and Whitehall Road, just a few miles from downtown Watkinsville and just across the Middle Oconee River from Oconee County.

Scientists at NBAF would be researching and developing vaccines and countermeasures for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases (diseases passed from animals to humans) that are considered threats to U.S. agriculture. According to DHS, such work would be done in bio-safety level (BSL) 3 and level 4 labs, the highest levels of security in bio-safety lab work.

While supporters of NBAF tout jobs and economic growth as community benefits of the project, the DHS representatives declined to comment or speculate on specifics of economic impact on the community. Instead, the focus of the February 19 meeting was on answering an opposition citing safety and environmental concerns.

After presenting a 30-minute overview of NBAF and the upcoming Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in May, the panel fielded questions from the audience for two and a half hours.

Aside from stating the official purposes of NBAF, DHS representative James Johnson did his best to clarify what he said are some misconceptions about the proposed facility.

"NBAF is not a bio-weapons facility. That was outlawed in 1972," said Johnson. "There will be no classified research, but occasional FBI forensic work would be classified."

Even if the research at NBAF is an open book, critics such as opposition leader Grady Thrasher are not convinced that it should be done in a community. Oconee County resident Bill Mann asserted that the proposed NBAF site near the comer of South Milledge Avenue and Whitehall Road is closer to Watkinsville than to Five Points.

"People in Oconee County need to pay attention to this and realize that it's going to affect them as much as anyone in Clarke County," Mann said.

When asked why the community should want NBAF so close to populous areas, Johnson cited precedent for similar bio-safety facilities being built in communities including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in downtown Atlanta.

According to DHS, including the CDC in Atlanta, there are four bio-safety level 4 (BSL-4) facilities operating in urban areas in the United States. Similar security measures would be taken at the NBAF BSL-4 lab proposed to be built here.  BSL-3 labs similar to those at the proposed NBAF are already operating in research institutions, hospitals and medical and veterinary schools.

Opposition to an NBAF facility at UGA has been growing in the last few weeks.  In January, those opposed to the project invited Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project to speak before a crowd of more than 400.  Hammond, based in Texas, is executive director of the Sunshine Project — a watchdog group that tracks research involving biological weapons agents.

At that January meeting, Hammond challenged the safety of these facilities and the need. He cited specific examples of agents accidentally being released, among them: the 1977 Russian Flu epidemic was likely caused by an accidental release of the influenza virus from a Chinese laboratory; a medical photographer and her mother account for the last two victims of human smallpox, the photographer contracted the disease in a laboratory.

Hammond said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there was a "bio-defense budget boom."

“We started down the wrong path based on wrong assumptions," he said — noting that the anthrax letters of 2001 were possibly initiated "by someone who worked in a lab or had access to someone who worked in a lab."

"The open budget was $1 billion in 2001," Hammond said. "It has grown to $7 billion now, and that's the open budget, it doesn't include intelligence budgets that are secret."

This "boom," Hammond said, has resulted too in a huge growth of the facilities. From 1969 to 1999, the Level 4 bio-safety labs in America totaled 12,000 square feet at just a couple of facilities. Prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks, plans were to add 1,900 square feet of research space at two new labs.

However, currently there are 115,000 square feet of labs in existence, under construction or under contract.

The response to what was believed to be a threat from terrorist strikes in 2001 is out of proportion with the actual threat, Hammond said.

“I'm not going to say we shouldn't study these diseases," Hammond said. "I'm saying we have to put it in perspective."

Hammond said safety committees that exist to oversee projects involving select agents   —weaponized biological agents — "exist only on paper." When UGA researchers were attempting to recreate the 1918 flu virus that reached pandemic proportions and killed 10s of millions of people worldwide, the school's bio-safety committee did not meet or oversee the safety procedures for the project, Hammond said.

"If an institution won't convene a bio-safety committee for experiments to recreate (the 1918 flu), how could this committee be described as effective and in charge?" he asked.

Hammond also challenged assertions by local and federal officials that NBAF might be a hub for economic development.

"There is not a market for the .product of this facility," Hammond said. "This is such a specialized and odd-ball kind of facility in the scientific community. It is not coming with a big cadre of federal employees."

Hammond also questioned the qualifications of those who will work in the facility.

Prior to 2001, he said, there were 15 "principal investigators" trained to oversee work with these select agents. Today, there are 424 "principal investigators."

Hammond is calling for NBAF not to be built anywhere. He said the scale-up in bio-defense research has become a way for institutions to secure more federal funding.

"What I propose is that we dramatically slash the bio-defense budget. If we cut it by 80 percent, it would still be double what it was in 2001. The government has never done a needs assessment, instead (bio-defense spending) has degenerated into pork."

Hammond calls for a moratorium on new facilities until a national assessment has been done to determine what needs still exist.

Assurance of Safety

During last week's meeting sponsored by Homeland Security, Johnson said that the training programs in place are sufficient.  

"At Plum Island and at NBAF, we have fully implemented training programs overseen by the USDA making sure procedures are followed," Johnson said.

NBAF architect Eugene Cole assured the audience that the facility would be safe. "The science of containment and construction will not be taken lightly," said Cole.

In response to a question about containment in the event of a natural disaster, Cole said, "If there's anywhere to be in this country during one of these events, it is with these specimens."

Despite the assurances of the federal officials at the February 19 meeting, opponents like Mr. Mann remain skeptical. "The economic benefits are more than can be believed," he said.  "Sometimes scientists make mistakes and accidents happen. Things do go wrong."

Environmental and animal treatment issues are also important to the opposition. When one audience member challenged an estimate of 100,000 gallons of NBAF water consumption a day, Dr. Larry Barren, Director of the Plum Island facility, stated that Plum Island only goes through 35,000 gal­lons a day with 100 animals.

Cole placed the new facility's estimated usage closer to 50,000 gallons a day. He also compared it to the water usage of the Holiday Inn in Athens at full capacity and assured the audience that all liquid waste leaving the facility would be sterile.

As a retiree in the field of landscape architecture, Bill Mann has concerns about the analysis of the site itself. "I don't think they've adequately looked at land," Mann said. "This thing is two years along and yet DHS kept saying they haven't done the full analysis of the site. They have an awful lot of work in the next two months that they haven't done in the last two years." 

Regarding living conditions of the animals, Dr. Tammy Beckham, a Plum Island official and veterinarian, emphasized that the conditions were not "horrendous" as one audience member had shouted.

"We are veterinarians and we are constantly checking on the animals, their living conditions, and giving them pain medication," Beckham said.

Rob Peecher contributed to this report.

Mike Sprayberry is a reporter for The Oconee Leader. He can be reached at 706-310-1104.