This makes me nervous. Maybe r-calf can use their influence to look further into this.
Contagious disease research may make Kansas home base
Story by The Associated Press
12:24 p.m. Friday, April 11, 2008
The Bush administration may move its research on a contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near huge herds of livestock.
The threat of such a move is raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak.
Manhattan, Kansas is one of five mainland locations under consideration for the new National Bio-and Agro-Defense Facility.
The site could be selected later this year, and the lab would open by 2014.
A Homeland Security study says 542,000 head of livestock are around Manhattan, which Republican Kansas Senator Pat Roberts supports as a site for the lab.
Skeptical Democrats in Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision.
One government report includes satellite images and federal farm data to show the proximity to livestock herds of Manhattan and other prospective locations.
The nine-page report asks, "Would an accidental laboratory release at these locations have the potential to affect nearby livestock?" The document did not directly answer the question.