Did you happen to catch the news crawl today blabbing about the Bush administration's flawed study concluding that a highly infectious animal disease research facility could be safely moved to the mainland? Say what?
Not seeing any actual news story on TV, I googled it. OMG, they're talking about PLUM ISLAND! Isn't that the island that Hannibal Lecter was offered in "Silence of the Lambs" as an alternative to his solitary isolation cell? Even Lecter (Hannibal the Cannibal) refused it, pointing to the Animal Disease Center located there. He preferred to take his own chances on a long-shot escape, risking death, rather than endure living there. Lecter called it "Anthrax Island".
Should it be a shock to anyone anymore that the Bush administration would rely on flawed studies that confirm whatever they are promoting? The Homeland Security Dept and officials from the GAO are conducting hearings today. Perhaps C-Span will show some of the hearings, or maybe Keith Olbermann. This is what our TV news is down to, a quick news crawl and then C-Span or Keith. The administration contends that modern laboratories have the highest security to prevent an escape of the virus.
What virus are they talking about? Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD), a catastrophic destroyer of livestock. It has been avoided in the U.S. by confining research since 1955 to the 840-acre Plum Island, located off Long Island NY. The Plum Island facility has had a history of accidents, the GAO contends, seven that the GAO is aware of between 1971 and 2004. The secrecy of the facility makes it likely there have been more accidents as well as possible exposure to many deadly diseases beyond FMD. But even just FMD scares the willies out of any rancher/farmer as it would lead to severe losses in meat production as well as milk with millions of livestock being slaughtered in order to halt the spread should FMD escape.
The prime motivator for our Dear Leaders to move this facility onshore seems to be their desire to use Plum Island for a National Bio-and-Agro Defense Facility that will study diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans. This means officially authorizing research beyond FMD-like viruses (which do not directly sicken humans). It's something they've been wanting to do for some time. Local Long Island activists prevented the facility from expanding to include diseases that affect humans in 2000, which would require a Biosafety Level 4 designation. In 2002, Congress again considered the plan. And here we are back again, this time considering moving the FMD facility onshore so as to free up Plum Island. Why am I not reassured that all this is strictly in the nature of defense? Why do I suddenly feel like a penned animal awaiting whatever highly infectious disease might be thrown my way?
There are five mainland sites being studied by DHS: Athens GA, Flora MS, Manhattan KS, Butner NC and San Antonio TX. I think we can safely discount the San Antonio possibility since Bush would never seriously risk harm to Texas beef.
Here's the GAO's concern: the 2002 Agricultural Dept study that Bush is relying on only addressed whether it was technically feasible to do the research onshore. Given the potential for human error at such a facility, this seems a highly selective criterion. Regardless of the degree of technology, all research labs are subject to human error, lack of proper maintenance, equipment failure and deviations from the pristine standard operating procedures.
One danger of working with these viruses is that they can be carried in the labworkers lungs, nostrils, clothing, vehicles, etc, making all facility employees a possible mode of transport for virus escape. Employees are not even allowed to have or be in contact with pets or visit zoos while they are working at the facility. Other methods of transmission include mosquitos, bats, birds, even ticks! There is some evidence that Lyme Disease was manufactured on Plum Island and accidentally spread 9-miles away to Old Lyme, Connecticut (the place the disease was first identified & named for).
After a 1978 accidental release of FMD into cattle holding pens on Plum Island, the United States only avoided international quarantine and mass livestock slaughter on the mainland because it was confined to the island. As it is, the whole island had to incinerated, every living thing, in order to contain it.
Leaving aside the moral issue of continuing Plum Island at all, isn't it just plum crazy to consider risking mass exposure to FMD and who-knows-what-other viruses being researched by moving such a facility onshore?
Here's a 3-minute overview by John Siegenthaler Jr, Associated Press:
Government research on the feared foot-and-mouth virus research facility moving from isolated Plum Island, N.Y. to a site on the mainland. The question is if the virus escaped, could an outbreak be contained? from April 2008 ...
If you're interested in seeing more about Plum Island and have the time, here's a longer report from July 2007 (30-minutes):
VVH-TV News Chief Investigative Reporter Karl Grossman interviews author Long Island native and lawyer Michael Christopher Carroll about his work on "Lab 257" taking us on a shocking journey inside the notorious Plum Island biological research facility. Carroll spent five years researching this highly detailed and powerful account of the secretive government installation that sits just off the coast of some of New York's prime real estate, an installation that has had its share of meltdowns, mishaps and downright scary security breaches, including two known releases of deadly viruses into the air.
Owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plum Island lies just off the coast of the North Fork of Long Island. This otherwise uninhabited, woodsy island has a long history of controversy and secrecy, as Carroll so intricately details, and just may have put the millions of residents of the Tri-State area in utter danger of exposure to fatal animal diseases, including Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus, and even anthrax, time and time again.
VVH-TV News attempted to have an interview with officials from the Department of Homeland Security but were denied.
Not seeing any actual news story on TV, I googled it. OMG, they're talking about PLUM ISLAND! Isn't that the island that Hannibal Lecter was offered in "Silence of the Lambs" as an alternative to his solitary isolation cell? Even Lecter (Hannibal the Cannibal) refused it, pointing to the Animal Disease Center located there. He preferred to take his own chances on a long-shot escape, risking death, rather than endure living there. Lecter called it "Anthrax Island".
Should it be a shock to anyone anymore that the Bush administration would rely on flawed studies that confirm whatever they are promoting? The Homeland Security Dept and officials from the GAO are conducting hearings today. Perhaps C-Span will show some of the hearings, or maybe Keith Olbermann. This is what our TV news is down to, a quick news crawl and then C-Span or Keith. The administration contends that modern laboratories have the highest security to prevent an escape of the virus.
What virus are they talking about? Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD), a catastrophic destroyer of livestock. It has been avoided in the U.S. by confining research since 1955 to the 840-acre Plum Island, located off Long Island NY. The Plum Island facility has had a history of accidents, the GAO contends, seven that the GAO is aware of between 1971 and 2004. The secrecy of the facility makes it likely there have been more accidents as well as possible exposure to many deadly diseases beyond FMD. But even just FMD scares the willies out of any rancher/farmer as it would lead to severe losses in meat production as well as milk with millions of livestock being slaughtered in order to halt the spread should FMD escape.
The prime motivator for our Dear Leaders to move this facility onshore seems to be their desire to use Plum Island for a National Bio-and-Agro Defense Facility that will study diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans. This means officially authorizing research beyond FMD-like viruses (which do not directly sicken humans). It's something they've been wanting to do for some time. Local Long Island activists prevented the facility from expanding to include diseases that affect humans in 2000, which would require a Biosafety Level 4 designation. In 2002, Congress again considered the plan. And here we are back again, this time considering moving the FMD facility onshore so as to free up Plum Island. Why am I not reassured that all this is strictly in the nature of defense? Why do I suddenly feel like a penned animal awaiting whatever highly infectious disease might be thrown my way?
There are five mainland sites being studied by DHS: Athens GA, Flora MS, Manhattan KS, Butner NC and San Antonio TX. I think we can safely discount the San Antonio possibility since Bush would never seriously risk harm to Texas beef.
Here's the GAO's concern: the 2002 Agricultural Dept study that Bush is relying on only addressed whether it was technically feasible to do the research onshore. Given the potential for human error at such a facility, this seems a highly selective criterion. Regardless of the degree of technology, all research labs are subject to human error, lack of proper maintenance, equipment failure and deviations from the pristine standard operating procedures.
One danger of working with these viruses is that they can be carried in the labworkers lungs, nostrils, clothing, vehicles, etc, making all facility employees a possible mode of transport for virus escape. Employees are not even allowed to have or be in contact with pets or visit zoos while they are working at the facility. Other methods of transmission include mosquitos, bats, birds, even ticks! There is some evidence that Lyme Disease was manufactured on Plum Island and accidentally spread 9-miles away to Old Lyme, Connecticut (the place the disease was first identified & named for).
After a 1978 accidental release of FMD into cattle holding pens on Plum Island, the United States only avoided international quarantine and mass livestock slaughter on the mainland because it was confined to the island. As it is, the whole island had to incinerated, every living thing, in order to contain it.
Leaving aside the moral issue of continuing Plum Island at all, isn't it just plum crazy to consider risking mass exposure to FMD and who-knows-what-other viruses being researched by moving such a facility onshore?
Here's a 3-minute overview by John Siegenthaler Jr, Associated Press:
Government research on the feared foot-and-mouth virus research facility moving from isolated Plum Island, N.Y. to a site on the mainland. The question is if the virus escaped, could an outbreak be contained? from April 2008 ...
If you're interested in seeing more about Plum Island and have the time, here's a longer report from July 2007 (30-minutes):
VVH-TV News Chief Investigative Reporter Karl Grossman interviews author Long Island native and lawyer Michael Christopher Carroll about his work on "Lab 257" taking us on a shocking journey inside the notorious Plum Island biological research facility. Carroll spent five years researching this highly detailed and powerful account of the secretive government installation that sits just off the coast of some of New York's prime real estate, an installation that has had its share of meltdowns, mishaps and downright scary security breaches, including two known releases of deadly viruses into the air.
Owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plum Island lies just off the coast of the North Fork of Long Island. This otherwise uninhabited, woodsy island has a long history of controversy and secrecy, as Carroll so intricately details, and just may have put the millions of residents of the Tri-State area in utter danger of exposure to fatal animal diseases, including Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus, and even anthrax, time and time again.
VVH-TV News attempted to have an interview with officials from the Department of Homeland Security but were denied.
**** UPDATE: Click here for quick news summary of the hearing conducted today. It was closed-door, not shown on C-Span or anywhere else. Transcript text/video won't be officially available for 90-days.
