Re: "Lab 257" author in NYT Op-Ed on Plum Island

From: John (johnj_at_tivanet.com)
Date: 10/29/04 

Date: 29 Oct 2004 09:42:59 -0700

The outbreaks were within the bio-containment lab. In other words,
from one animal room to another.
Take the time and know the facts before posting.

Greatcod@Yahoo.com (Greatcod) wrote in message news:<caef409e.0410181723.3c5617fe@posting.google.com>...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> October 17, 2004
> LONG ISLAND
> Island Fever
> By MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER CARROLL
>
> ellmore ? This summer, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center off the
> east end of Long Island suffered two outbreaks of the foot-and-mouth
> virus, one of many microbes researched and stored there. Despite
> letters from federal, county and town officials, researchers from the
> Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture
> failed to disclose the outbreaks, which took place in June and July,
> until nearly a month after the second occurrence. The public learned
> of them only after an anonymous tip reached the ears of a reporter.
>
> While the virus can cause illness in humans, it is not fatal. But
> these latest accidents raise the specter of a future outbreak of other
> germs with lethal consequences. They also represent another instance
> in a long history of failed and belated disclosures at Plum Island.
> Unless changes are made, the government should close the lab.
>
> Plum Island has a long and checkered history. It began as the
> brainchild of a German biological warfare scientist, Erich Traub, who
> was secretly smuggled into the United States in 1949 to perform
> biological weapons research for the Central Intelligence Agency, the
> Army and the Navy. The laboratory was established in 1954 by the Army
> to research exotic germs for use against enemy food supplies.
>
> In the mid-1950's, the Army turned over control of Plum Island to the
> Department of Agriculture, which in turn relinquished much of it to
> the Department of Homeland Security last year. A number of the germs
> researched on Plum Island are dangerous to humans and animals and some
> are lethal, including the mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever virus,
> which causes hemorrhagic fever akin to the Ebola virus and killed 600
> people in Egypt in 1977 and 1978.
>
> During the 1980's and early 1990's, Plum Island was charged with more
> than 260 violations of workplace safety law violations by the
> Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including improper
> disposal of virus syringes and radioactive cobalt-60, unlabeled and
> mislabeled hazardous chemical containers and workers bitten and
> trampled by test animals. In addition, according to the Environmental
> Protection Agency, from the mid-1990's to 2002 there were violations
> of state and federal environmental laws, including illegal animal
> sewage discharges into local waters under the Clean Water Act. The New
> York State Department of Environmental Conservation described the
> environmental pollution as troubling, and in December 2002, the island
> made the National Resources Defense Council's "Dirty Dozen" list of
> the 12 worst polluters in New York and New Jersey.
>
> After the Sept. 11 attacks, a file with information on Plum Island was
> found by American forces in Afghanistan in the Kabul residence of
> Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, a former nuclear scientist from Pakistan
> whom American officials have identified as an associate of Osama bin
> Laden. Last year, the Government Accountability Office, the
> investigative arm of Congress, found that laboratory officials "have
> not adequately controlled access to the pathogens."
>
> Ostensibly in response to this and concerns raised by elected
> officials, in July Plum Island bolstered the small 24-hour detail
> provided by a private security firm with part-time federally trained
> armed guards. Plum Island administrators claim that the laboratories
> are as safe "as a federal courthouse." They stress that the scientists
> work only on animal pathogens, particularly diseases that affect farm
> animals. They say that Plum Island is well protected, and that they
> meticulously detail biological safety and security practices to
> reporters with whom they've pledged to be forthright about problems
> that arise. They boast on their Web site that they are "proud" of
> their safety record.
>
> But the foot-and-mouth outbreaks that occurred this summer raise
> important questions: How did it happen? Were proper safety measures
> followed? What is being done to prevent it from happening again?
>
> To address some of these problems, several security measures should be
> taken. First, armed couriers should be employed to transport the
> foreign germs that arrive at nearby international airports and are
> carried along Connecticut and New York roads. Moreover, emergency
> first responders like county fire and police officials should be
> notified of each trip and be properly equipped and prepared to respond
> to a biological accident or terrorist attack. Second, the Department
> of Homeland Security must enforce a no-flight zone over Plum Island.
> And third, the department must re-establish full federal control of
> the island. Plum Island's biological containment, security, sewage and
> water systems are now run by a private contractor, but the work being
> done there is too dangerous to be in private hands.
>
> By contrast, Plum Island's sister laboratory in Ames, Iowa, holds less
> dangerous germs and it is not privatized. In fact, in 2003, Senator
> Tom Harkin of Iowa blocked an effort to install private contractors
> there. The Ames laboratory, he said, is "a vital function of the
> federal government, and it should remain the responsibility of federal
> employees." New York's elected officials should follow Mr. Harkin's
> lead.
>
> Until these steps are taken, Plum Island will remain a threat to its
> neighbors and a soft target for terrorism. The scientists at Plum
> Island need to recognize that their laboratory needs an overhaul, and
> our elected leaders need to force real change there, before we all
> have to pay the price.
>
>
> Michael Christopher Carroll is the author of "Lab 257: The Disturbing
> Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory."
>
>
>
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