Dan's Papers - May 6, 2008 - More Risk at Plum?

Nazi scientists, exotic illnesses never before seen in this part of the world and a government-run island that's been shrouded in mystery and become fodder for local folklore for more than 50 years. You know what they say - truth is stranger than fiction.

Plum Island, an animal research center located in the Long Island Sound, mere miles from Orient Point, and once a federal biological warfare laboratory, has long been a source of contention for residents on the East End. After all, Plum Island's security has been questioned over the years and it has been associated with the exposure of Lyme disease and West Nile virus to the western world (which has been vehemently denied by our government, of course).

Despite this, Plum Island, a national bio and agro defense facility that currently operates as a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory and is dedicated to the study of foreign-born animal diseases (primarily foot and mouth disease [FMD]) is one of six locations in the country being considered to become the future site of a $500 million laboratory that will set aside 10% of its space for Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) research. This upgrade means Plum Island, or perhaps one of the other locations being considered - Athens, Georgia, Manhattan, Kansas, Madison County, Mississippi, Granville County, North Carolina, San Antonio, Texas - would be classified to handle the research of animal diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, have no known vaccine and can cause death, including Nipah and Hendra viruses. Currently, no such facility exists in the world.

East End residents came out in droves to an April 15 meeting to speak out against the construction of such a facility, citing concern for their safety should a terrorist attack or natural disaster hit the island. Local officials have also banded against the idea as well, though most would like to see Plum Island remain at BSL-3.

"We're near a metropolitan region," said Town of Southold Supervisor Scott Russell. "[BSL-4] wouldn't make sense. A BSL-3 makes sense, investigating diseases that affect cattle, sheep and livestock. But it's not a good site when you're talking about pathogens that would affect human population."

Russell also said that while he would like to see Plum Island remain a BSL-3 lab because of its contribution to the local economy by providing the area with approximately 175 jobs, the North Fork does not have a proper emergency evacuation plan should there be a security breach at the lab. "One of the problems with Long Island is the inability to evacuate in a hurry," he said. "It's a very daunting task to have to evacuate both forks, moving through a congested Long Island. That would be a real challenge for a small town."

Other local officials think the upgrade is a bad idea as well. "We are against going to a Level-4 facility," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. "As we have in the past, we will lobby the Federal Government in opposition to elevating this to a BSL-4 lab."

"It would create a greater risk of a potential hazard so close to a major population center," said Assemblyman Fred Thiele. "It just doesn't make sense. There's always been a kind of uncertainty about everything that goes on there."

U.S. Representative Tim Bishop, who has been fighting the idea of an upgrade to Plum Island for years, said Michael Chertoff, secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as former secretary Tom Ridge, have assured him that Plum Island is not really being considered. In a June 2003 press release, the DHS stated that they have "no plans in the near or long term for a BSL-4 facility" on Plum Island.

Still, John Verrico, a spokesperson for the DHS, said, "There are multiple locations we're going to consider. We have to continue research on FMD. Because [Plum Island] has the experience doing that, it makes sense to consider it as an option," adding that a brand new facility would have to be built. Also, the DHS has held public meetings in Southold and is preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the site.

But Will Jenkins, a press representative for Bishop, said Chertoff told them this is all standard procedure. Additionally, Jenkins said they have been given no indication that Chertoff has changed his mind. But that's a lot of effort for a location that's not considered a potential future site for a BSL-4 lab.

In 1952 the Army Chemical Corps turned the site, originally known as Fort Terry, into a biological warfare lab with the help of a Nazi scientist who ran a similar lab in Germany during World War II. In 1954, the Department of Agriculture took over Plum Island to establish a research center dedicated to studying diseases that could affect livestock, renaming it the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

It has been speculated that the island, which has performed experiments on ticks, accidentally introduced Lyme disease to the world after the disease's first outbreak occurred in nearby Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1975. Though the disease spread across the country, initially high concentrations of it were found in Connecticut and Suffolk County.

Plum Island has also been associated with the spread of the Dutch duck plague in the late 60s, which single-handedly eradicated the thriving Long Island duck market, as well as the outbreak of West Nile virus in the late '90s and early 2000s. It has also been rumored that the island has been the home of frozen vials of anthrax. Though government officials have denied any of this, they have acknowledged several accidental releases of FMD that affected livestock in holding pens off Plum Island.

The DHS took over Plum Island in 2002. In 2003, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report entitled "Combating Bioterrorism: Actions Needed to Improve Security at Plum Island Animal Disease Center." The report acknowledged that security on the island had improved, but there were still "fundamental concerns" that "the facility was vulnerable to security breaches," which, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is especially reason for concern.

Verrico said that Plum Island is very safe. All virus samples are kept in small quantities in freezers. Access to these diseases requires fingerprint verification. And once the samples thaw, if they don't have a host, they die immediately. "The main concern is these diseases that can affect people," he said. "What people seem to be most nervous about is, what if there's a release? But that's pretty much impossible. The quantities on site would be for lab testing. There's not enough to cause anyone to get ill. These diseases do not transmit from person to person or by breathing them in."

"Plum Island has been here for the last 50 years and has worked quite well as a laboratory," said the facility's director, Larry Barrett, who will not comment on whether the island is a good site for a BSL-4 lab until the DEIS is released. "It operates quite well and it operates quite safely, but we don't have the room here that we need. Our primary disease is FMD, but we need to expand that to other high threat diseases so we can do more research."

A BSL-4 lab would require even more stringent security, including additional filtration on ventilation systems and additional treatment of waste materials.

The DEIS should be available to the public no later than June and will be followed by another public meeting. The DHS hopes to make its decision sometime this year.