Tracking NBAF

Governor Sam Brownback says members of the president's administration continue to support the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is slated to be built in Manhattan. That comes after President Obama chose not to add funding for the lab's construction in his 2013 budget proposal.

The White House budget for 2013 provides no construction funding for a planned livestock disease lab in Kansas and calls for a “comprehensive assessment of the project in 2012” to consider “the cost, safety, and any alternatives to the current plan.”

Supporters of a high security bio-defense facility in Manhattan, Kan., got some depressing news today. The White House Budget for 2013 cuts funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) from $50 million to $10 million.

Kansas political leaders and top officials at Kansas State University are united in support of a plan to bring the nation's premier agricultural disease laboratory to the K-State campus in Manhattan. But many people remain uneasy about bringing dangerous pathogens into the nation’s heartland — pathogens that could devastate the livestock industry and possibly harm humans as well.

An audit released recently alleges misdeeds by former Kansas Bioscience Authority head Tom Thornton. The KBA is one of the groups that worked to help Kansas land the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) project.

A committee of the National Research Council visited Kansas State University Friday to get a feel for safety concerns for a giant biosafety lab planned for the Manhattan, Kan., campus.