Government

Tracking NBAF: National Bio And Agro-Defense Facility Takes Shape In Kansas

In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to replace the old Plum Island Animal Disease Center off Long Island with a facility on the U.S. mainland to study Foot and Mouth Disease and other dangerous pathogens. Kansas won the job in 2008, with a site on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan.But today, more than three years later, the proposed $1.14 billion National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility faces funding obstacles, safety questions, rising costs and political fallout. For Kansas and the Midwest, the stakes couldn’t be higher.Here you’ll find coverage and updates from Harvest Public Media, KCUR and Kansas Public Media.

President Of KBA Reacts To NBAF Risk Assessment

KCUR | By Laura Ziegler

Published November 19, 2010 at 9:30 AM CST

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-935931.mp3

Two reports came out this week about the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF.

The Department of Homeland Security released a risk assessment for the site, scheduled to begin construction in 2012 in Manhattan, Kan.

The National Academy of Sciences followed with a Congressionally mandated evaluation of that assessment.

The NAS report found a host of problems with the DHS study, including inadequate protection to people in the community and misguided calculations about the level of risk. The evaluation assessed the possible release of a Foot and Mouth virus at 70 percent over the 50-year life of the facility at a $9 to $50 billion cost to the economy. Livestock exports would come to a halt if an outbreak occurred.

Tom Thornton, President and CEO of the Kansas Biosciences Authority, sat down with Laura Ziegler to talk about the two reports and their implications for the NBAF.