Groundbreaking for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), a $1.25 billion project by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), took place last Wednesday in Manhattan, Kansas. The new facility will focus biosafety level 3 agriculture (BSL-3Ag) research on dangerous livestock diseases such as African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and will focus its BSL-4 research on such deadly pathogens as the Hendra and Nipah viruses, which are zoonotic pathogens that can be transmitted from animals to humans and for which no treatment is available.

R-CALF USA Vice President Mike Schultz who raises cattle in Brewster, Kansas, said the United States is making a terrible mistake by bringing the live FMD virus into Kansas.
“Congress and the President are ignoring the science that tells us this research facility is an accident waiting to happen,” he said.
When construction is complete, and for the first time since the 1929 FMD outbreak in California, the live FMD virus will once again be reintroduced to the United States’ mainland. Foot-and mouth disease is the most highly infectious animal disease presently known to cloven-footed animals such as cattle, swine, sheep and deer. Nearly 100 percent of exposed animals become infected. To accommodate the DHS’ request to bring the live FMD virus to the mainland, Congress first had to change U.S. law that restricted use of the live FMD virus to coastal islands. Since the 1950s, all U.S. research on FMD was conducted at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, located on an island off the northern tip of Long Island, New York.
Related: Transplanting Plum Island to Kansas: is the country’s food supply at risk?
In 2008 the independent, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study and concluded that the DHS lacks evidence to conclude that FMD research can be done safely on the U.S. mainland. The GAO raised numerous concerns regarding the inherent dangers of conducting research in close proximity to susceptible animals, such as the wildlife and cattle that surround the Manhattan site, particularly since FMD can be carried from farm-to-farm on the wind. The GAO pointed out that the DHS did not examine data from past releases of FMD – including the inadvertent release of FMD from Plum Island in 1978 that, according to reports, was carried harmlessly away over the Atlantic Ocean by prevailing winds. As a result, only the research cattle in pens at the facility had to be destroyed.

In 2010 the National Academy of Sciences (Academy) conducted its own independent study of the proposed Manhattan site and concluded that the Manhattan site would more likely than not result in an FMD outbreak within the 50-year life span of the NBAF. The Academy found that some of the risks associated with the Manhattan site were generic to any high-containment large animal facility, such as sites where the virus is inoculated in live cattle rather than being contained in biosafety cabinets. However, the Academy found that the risk of FMD infection, spread, and impact were largely related to the Manhattan site.
The Academy concluded that the probability of an infection resulting from a laboratory release of FMD from the NBAF site in Manhattan, Kansas approaches 70% over 50 years, with an economic impact to the U.S. cattle industry of $9-50 billion. Human error will be the most likely cause of an accidental pathogen release from Manhattan, according to the Academy.
Schultz said that human error was the cause of accidental releases of FMD that occurred both internally in and externally from the Plum Island facility. “If, or when, such accidents occur in Manhattan, the consequences will be far more severe than they were on the isolated island.”
There have been numerous, human-error-caused releases of deadly pathogens from BSL-3 laboratories both here and abroad over the past decade. In 2007 the FMD virus was accidently released from the Pirbright BSL-3 laboratory in Surrey, England, causing widespread outbreaks on surrounding farms.
Schultz said it is ironic that the same week that groundbreaking occurs for this dangerous NBAF laboratory, the Pentagon reports that the U.S. Army has mistakenly sent live anthrax spores to 24 laboratories in 11 states and two foreign countries.
Related: Did Lyme disease originate out of Plum Island?
On March 13, 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified human error – lapses in the appropriate use of personal protective equipment – as the cause of the accidental release of the deadly Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria from the Tulane National Primate Research Center, which is a BSL-3 research facility.
In June, 2014, the CDC announced that 75 people were being monitored or provided antibiotics because they may have been unintentionally exposed to live anthrax after safety practices were not followed at the Atlanta, Georgia, Roybal campus BSL-3 laboratory.
Schultz said these recent examples of human-caused breaches at high-containment facilities demonstrate that conducting FMD research at the Manhattan-based NBAF will likely result in an accidental release at some point.
“Equally alarming,” said Schultz, “Is that a study conducted this month by the GOA concludes that the federal government is not prepared to address a large-scale animal disease outbreak like an FMD outbreak.”
The GAO report found that federal agencies do not have enough veterinarians to respond to a major crisis, nor do they even know how many veterinarians they would need.
The report comes after the U.S. swine industry lost an estimated 8 million pigs to the recent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and while the U.S. poultry industry is destroying tens of millions of poultry resulting from the out-of-control outbreak of avian influenza. Latest reports indicate that about 30 million chickens and turkeys have been destroyed.
“If our cattle industry were to lose the same number of cows as the poultry industry has now lost to avian influenza, we would wipe out our entire 29.7 million head of beef cows here in the United States.
“The NBAF in Manhattan will irresponsibly increase the risk of yet another deadly disease outbreak and the federal government does not even have an effective strategy to protect our nation’s food security if or when that outbreak occurs,” Schultz concluded.
Well crap. Was hoping it wouldn’t happen.
Dang. Was hoping it wouldn’t happen.
Well crap. Was hoping it wouldn’t happen. It’s tornado ally!
How stupid can our government be to allow any of this, isn’t Lyme disease we have bad enough? God it’s a horrible disease, you feel like your dying over & over but you don’t:((( presidents please stop this testing in Kansas please
Ms. Lorraine I couldn’t agree more. Have that not paid any attention to Lyme being the worst epidemic ever and it came from plum island. I’m determined they are purposely trying to deplete the population. I still can’t believe this is the United States. Our founding fathers must be rolling over in their grave with disgust
I believe that bringing a level 4 bio hazard 4 lab to K-state brings a outbreak on numerous diseases to the crop and cattle production to farmers and farm land. There is no certainty of breach of security in motion. And whose responsibility is it to maintain both security and the madness of any group that chooses to release any of the substances that they have no cure for from releasing any of the contaminated into the public. Such as VX, diseases that affect cattle and swine. The have an entire group of who were brought up with the mindset that there are no losers, that at this point have a hard time dealing with adulthood, where they can not comprehend. And they take those issues out on others in an angry and violent way. Having such viruses in this area where people make their living off the land not only makes me and a vast number of other people I know extremely concerned. But instead of giving an answer at your meeting. You leave , discuss what correct answer you can give and then return with what you believe will pacify the public. That’s a BS game. We want an answer now. You’ve been working on hoof and mouth for years, and you’re no closer than when you started. My grandson will be going to K-State, at this point I’ll pay for him to go out of state than there!! That’s my oppion!
I believe that bringing a level 4 bio hazard 4 lab to K-state brings a outbreak on numerous diseases to the crop and cattle production to farmers and farm land. There is no certainty of breach of security in motion. And whose responsibility is it to maintain both security and the madness of any group that chooses to release any of the substances that they have no cure for from releasing any of the contaminated into the public. Such as VX, diseases that affect cattle and swine. The have an entire group of who were brought up with the mindset that there are no losers, that at this point have a hard time dealing with adulthood, where they can not comprehend. And they take those issues out on others in an angry and violent way. Having such viruses in this area where people make their living off the land not only makes me and a vast number of other people I know extremely concerned. But instead of giving an answer at your meeting. You leave , discuss what correct answer you can give and then return with what you believe will pacify the public. That’s a BS game. We want an answer now. You’ve been working on hoof and mouth for years, and you’re no closer than when you started. My grandson will be going to K-State, at this point I’ll pay for him to go out of state than there!! That’s my oppion!
Congress and the president are saying nothing and ignoring the facts based on science that tells us this is an accident waiting to happen.
Congress also had to change US law that restricted the use of the live fmd virus to coastal Islands.
And guess who funded it ?Homeland security go figure… 😱
Ms. Lorraine I couldn’t agree more. As it is Lyme disease is the worst epidemic ever. I’m determined they are trying to delete the population. It blows my mind that this is the United States. Our founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves.
Wow and to think we really cant do nothing about it i don’t see how we say this is the free land cause it seem we are just lab rats for all this i strongly stand on their is a reason forever thing. That said. They are moving right in the middle of us right in the heart of the United States for a reason and im sure we will all figure it out at some point in time wish we could do something about it but all i see is it a. Dead end cause they are STICKING. THEM IN THE SKACK MIDDLE OF THE HEART OF THE LOVLY UNITED STATES ARE MOST IMPACTED US WOULD BE ARE MEAT ARE CATTEL ARE COW ARE LIVLY HOOD WHAT WOULD HURT US THE MOST THE FASTEST WITH OUT ANY WAY TO SEE IT COMING ARE FOOD ARE COWS YEAH LETS PUT THEM IN THE HEART SMARTVERY SMART
I think i’m going vegan.
Hope they have another source of food!
Tornado alley!
I grew up in Manhattan. I as in Middle School when Tuttle Creek damn was built. It is common knowledge that the damn is built on a fault. It is said that it will take 15 minutes to flood Topeka if it breaks. (Why even figure that out of it won’t happen ?)Why this new Plum Island is directly in front of damn is beyond me. Bad enough that it’s in the Heartland….but in front of a huge body of water!?
Tulane has a lab in New Orleans that studies infectious disease in mosquitoes. I city built in a swamp and prone to hurricanes. If a mosquito escaped there it would thrive as opposed to say a desert region. How stupid is that?
‘They’ weaponized Syphilis into Lyme disease and deliberately released it. It is a horribly contagious disease! I’ve read MMS will cure it. If doctors try to help cure Lyme, they are snuffed.