USDA lab site controversy mushrooms

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds its Plum Island, New York animal disease testing facility outdated and in disrepair, and wants to build a new one. The current site is off shore, and isolated in a commercial area with no livestock herds nearby. This is important, because many of the infectious, contagious animal diseases can be tested and isolated from spreading an epidemic in U.S. herds.

USDA scientists want to locate the new proposed facility near existing university experiment facilities in Manhattan, Kansas, Athens, Georgia, Butner, N.C., San Antonio, Texas or Flora, MS. The numbers of livestock in the counties surrounding the proposed sites range from 542,507 head in Kansas to 132,900 head in Georgia, according to a study by the Homeland Security Department.

Plum Island is only accessible by ferry or helicopter, and researchers there are not allowed to own animals at home, due to the danger of carrying contagious diseases like Foot and Mouth on their breath, clothes or vehicles, to contaminate the mainland. As an example of what can happen, England in 2001 suffered an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease that devastated the nation's livestock herd, resulting in the destruction of six millon head of cattle, sheep and pigs.

There are those who thought the English government grossly over-reacted, but the crisis nonetheless shows what animals in close proximity to each other can get when exposed to contagious diseases.

That is why many are urging government scientists to rebuild at Plum Island or some other offshore outpost. Scientists point out that containment technology has improved dramatically in recent years, and since the new facility would not open until 2014, even greater improvements are likely.

It's probably a poor year to make a decision. Democrats in Gongress are already demogoguing the obviously dangerous prospects for the slightest faux pax to trigger massive disease and destruction. A non-election year could allow a less contentious, more calm level-headed decision.

A disaster movie was made from a simulated exercise USDA did in 2002, it turned out so badly. It had a trench 25 miles long dug in Kansas to bury all the dead livestock, and riots in the streets of major cities because of food shortages. This was overkill, and calls for much more scientific, dispassionate look at the whole situation.

A fictional, gory disaster movie is hardly the basis for rational, sound consideration of a new government lab.