The US needs a new high-security lab for animal diseases 鈥� but it will cost a huge amount, and it still isn鈥檛 clear if building it at the planned site in Manhattan, Kansas, is a good idea.
That鈥檚 the conclusion of a US National Research Council (NRC) committee who looked into the plans for a National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility where contagious animal infections, such as foot-and-mouth disease, can be studied in large livestock as well as lab animals.
Only Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Canada have such labs, and the committee said .
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The 50-year-old animal diseases lab at Plum Island, New York 鈥� the only US facility allowed to handle foot-and-mouth 鈥� is too old, they say, to simply refurbish.
The committee said that it might be possible to scale back the $1.4 billion plans by doing some work at existing labs but wasn鈥檛 sure that this would ultimately save money. It also called for a 鈥渃omprehensive鈥� risk assessment.
A NRC committee that assessed the plans found the latest risk assessment 鈥渋nadequate鈥�, especially of the planned location in the heart of cattle country.
