Updated:
Saturday November 15, 2008
Updated:
Saturday November 15, 2008
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FEDS MAY DELAY LAB DECISION
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DRAINS OVERFLOW AT LAB - UGA FACILITY CONTAMINATED
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VET SCHOOL LEAK KEPT QUIET
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LAB'S 'MINOR INCIDENTS' STIR MAJOR DOUBTS
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ANTHRAX CASE RENEWS QUESTIONS ON BIOTERROR EFFORT
From The New York Times:
With so many people involved, there is insufficient federal oversight of biodefense facilities to make sure the laboratories follow security rules and report accidents that might threaten lab workers or, in an extreme case, lead to a release that might endanger the public, Mr. Rhodes testified.
Mr. Stupak, the congressman from Michigan, remains concerned.
“You have all these universities tripping over each other trying to be high-level biosecurity labs,” he said. “What the nation gets is a very expensive bill, less security and a greater risk to the surrounding communities.” Click here for full story
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FOOT-AND-MOUTH PLAN USED FLAWED STUDY
"The Bush administration has no evidence to support its contention that it would be safe to move research on highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease to the U.S. mainland near livestock, congressional investigators said Thursday....Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said plans by the Department of Homeland Security were not only "baffling, but dangerous." Click Here
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HOMELAND SECURITY WINS CONTROL OVER FOOT-AND-MOUTH RESEARCH
(5/7/08) - "Lawmakers on Wednesday tentatively agreed that national security officials should fully control the expected transfer of research of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease from an offshore laboratory to the U.S. mainland near livestock...The numbers of livestock in the counties and surrounding areas of the finalists range from 542,507 in Kansas to 132,900 in Georgia, according to an internal Homeland Security study." Click Here
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SCIENTIST'S ATTORNEY SAYS UGA SPREAD FALSE DATA TO WIN GRANTS
(4/18/08)“I can fully appreciate the ramifications it would have on the University of Georgia’s bid to become a national center for agro-bioterrorism research if President Adams were to truthfully acknowledge the role his office has played in the fabrication of scientific data..." Click Here
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CHECK OUR NEWS PAGE FOR THE LATEST COVERAGE.....
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$25M PLUS IN INCENTIVES FOR NBAF
"Georgia officials have offered more than $25 million in incentives to draw a federal research laboratory to Athens....The state of Georgia will provide about $15 million, the UGA Research Foundation $5 million and Athens-Clarke County about $1 million in incentives if Homeland Security picks 66 acres off South Milledge Avenue to build the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. That doesn't include free land valued at about $5.3 million." Click here
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ACCIDENTS AT DISEASE LAB ACKNOWLEDGED
"The only U.S. facility allowed to research the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease experienced several accidents with the feared virus, the Bush administration acknowledged Friday." (04/11/08) Click here
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BIOLAB PITCH A SECRET
"A University of Georgia-led group is considering spending more money to draw a federal bioresearch laboratory to Athens, but taxpayers might never know."
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FEDS WANT POWER PLANT FOR NBAF
"The federal government has asked Kansas and other states vying for a new Department of Homeland Security laboratory to commit to building a power plant for the facility, officials confirmed Friday."
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"Georgia officials, including spokesmen for the University of Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue and U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, said Homeland Security hasn't asked Georgia to build a power plant as far as they know...." Click here
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DHS RELEASES EIS SCOPING REPORT
FROM THE DHS WEBSITE "The NBAF environmental impact statement (EIS) scoping period occurred from July 31 through September 28, 2007. During that time, the Department conducted eight public meetings in the vicinity of the proposed NBAF sites and in one regional location. The results of this process are documented in the NBAF EIS Scoping Report"
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Against Opposition: Homeland Security Defends NBAF - Oconee Leader ....Click here to read
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Raleigh, N.C. — The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose a federal bio-defense laboratory proposed for Granville County....click here to read
From The Flagpole:"Davison reiterated that the NBAF proposal will not be debated by ACC Commissioners “on the floor,” and that they will not be expected to take formal action on the matter..." click here to read
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REPORT FROM NORTH CAROLINA'S DHS 2/21 MEETING "Frank allowed and facilitated a format of questions that pressed the DHS for answers to all questions. Having been present at both meetings, I only wish the same format would have been afforded to the concerned residents of Athens. In Athens if the DHS didn’t completely answer a question they were not pressed further and no follow-up questions were allowed...." Click here
WHY WERE NO FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS ALLOWED AT THE ATHENS MEETING? According to a 2/14/08 UGA Press Release "Each person approaching the microphone will be allowed one initial question and one follow-up question."
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Plum Island: Deadly Diseases on the Move?
AP Video
Edward Hammond of The Sunshine Project
talks about The Myths of NBAF
Click here for Videos
Download a Flyer!
Download and print this informational flyer to spread the word about why we don't want NBAF. Click Here to Download a Flyer.
Download Edward Hammond's Slide Presentation The Myths of NBAF here (.pdf document)
DO YOU HAVE A LETTER, COMMENTARY OR FORUM THAT WAS NOT PUBLISHED IN THE LOCAL PRESS? Please send it to director@athensfaq.org, and we will post it here.
Published on 8/22/2008 in Home »State »State Main Photo
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged Thursday that a “profoundly deficient” federal report might have given the green light to use Plum Island for studying lethal biological threats to humans.
Plum Island, eight miles off the shore of southeastern Connecticut, is one of six sites currently targeted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
Currently used to test only animal-to-animal pathogens, Plum Island once had been thought to be the least likely of the six sites to be chosen for as the government's new biological testing ground. But a draft environmental impact statement published in June showed that economic losses from a disease outbreak would be higher at the other sites, prompting fears that Plum Island would be moved up the list.
Blumenthal said Plum Island, part of New York state, should be removed from the short list of sites being considered. He said the environmental report did not take into account Plum Island's proximity to New York City, the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London and the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford as well as risks from a major hurricane and other issues associated with island environments.
”This facility would study and experiment with the most dangerous disease organisms, including pathogens transmitted from animals to humans, that have no known cures of vaccines,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Some of these diseases don't otherwise exist in this country.”
Among the diseases to be studied, according to previous reports, are foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever and the Hendra and Nipah viruses.
The sites in addition to Plum Island currently under discussion for the biological research laboratory are Athens, Ga.; Manhattan, Kan.; Butner, N.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and Flora, Miss.
The environmental report studied a possible catastrophic outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and concluded that the costs would amount to $1 billion more in Texas and Kansas when compared to Plum Island and $300 million more in Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi. It downplayed the likelihood of such an event, however.
Previously, Homeland Security had said it was looking for an alternative to the Plum Island site because the price tag for upgrading it had been estimated at $750 million - $250 million more than a site on the mainland would cost to build. A mainland site would be cheaper to operate as well, according to the estimates.
Blumenthal acknowledged that Plum Island has a long history of use as a site to study animal diseases, but he said using the site's facilities to target human pathogens “would take the public health threat literally to a new level.”
Blumenthal previously had threatened legal action under environmental impact laws if the U.S. government decides to upgrade its facilities at Plum Island.
”The environmental security risks are intolerable,” he said. “There are far safer and sounder locations than Plum Island.”
