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Kentucky, Tennessee Lobby for Biological Defense Lab
Officials at three universities are urging the federal government to build the $450 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kentucky near its border with Tennessee, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2005). The planned facility would develop countermeasures to biological agents that terrorists might use. The University of Kentucky, University of Louisville and the University of Tennessee have joined with political leaders from the two states in seeking to have the 500,000-square-foot complex built in nearby Pulaski County, Ky., about 90 miles northwest of Knoxville, Tenn. The Homeland Security department is expected to make its site selection next year for a laboratory to replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. The facility is tentatively scheduled to begin operation in 2012, AP reported. Researchers at the new facility would study emerging public health threats and “high consequence” pathogens spread by animals. The facility would be among the most secure in the country, said Michael Blackwell, dean of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. “I would not be afraid if this facility were located in my back yard,” Blackwell said. “It will be that safe and secure” (Roger Alford, Associated Press/Tennesseean.com, Feb. 21).
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