Plum Island Lab Might Not Close, Senator Says

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that the Plum Island Animal Research Center might not be forced to close when the Homeland Security Department builds a higher-security facility, Newsday reported (see GSN, Aug. 24).

The site near Long Island is due to be replaced around 2013 by the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that would conduct research on anthrax, botulism and other diseases that could prove fatal to humans and animals.

However, Plum Island might be allowed to remain in operation in its current configuration, as a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory handling only animal diseases, Schumer said. 

“I don’t want to overstate it,” he said.  “They have not made a decision.  But as of this afternoon they told us explicitly that this is an option they are considering.  That’s big news and it’s good news.  But it doesn’t mean the deal is done.”

There are more than 250 skilled workers employed at the center, Newsday reported.

A Homeland Security Department official said, though, that the agency had no intention of operating both Plum Island and the new $450 million, Biosafety Level 4 facility.  The agency wants one site conducting research on a range of diseases, the official said.  “It would totally defeat the purpose to build a second lab in another location, while keeping Plum Island open,” he said.

Plum Island has not been eliminated from the list of six candidate sites to house the new facility, the official said.  Residents near the current facility have voiced opposition to having it updated to conduct research on pathogens that could kill humans (Carol Eisenberg, Newsday, Oct. 4).

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