By DAVE BERGMEIER
High Plains Journal
One of the longest-anticipated openings in animal health care research has been set for May 24.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, announced during a recent Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture hearing in Washington D.C., that he was looking forward to having U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack cut the ribbon at the biosafety level 4 National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
“Designed to protect public health and our national food security, this state-of-the-art USDA facility will be located in the heart of the nation and near the farmers and ranchers who help feed our nation,” Moran said.
“NBAF modernizes our process and our ability to investigate and research some of the major challenges and threats to American agriculture,” Vilsack said. “Whether it’s African swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease or some of the other seven critical diseases that could cripple our livestock industry, which obviously would impact and effect our entire economy and our food security. In addition, this facility will also be where the vaccine bank is housed. As we develop vaccines to try to deal with some of these threats, being able to stockpile appropriately and safely those vaccines [is] incredibly important. Also, a great deal of research is going to be done on the countermeasures, the biosecurity initiatives that are part of protecting our livestock industry.”
Moran helped secure $1.25 billion in federal funding for the facility through his role on the Senate Committee on Appropriations and helped break ground for the construction of NBAF in 2015.
NBAF is the nation’s only large animal facility built to handle pathogens that do not currently have treatments or countermeasures. It will open adjacent to Kansas State University and near Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate will transfer ownership and operational responsibilities to the USDA. NBAF is designed to strengthen the nation’s ability to conduct research, develop vaccines, diagnose emerging diseases, and train veterinarians. According to the USDA, NBAF will replace the 68-year-old Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. The PIADC is where the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service conduct foreign animal disease research and diagnostics. ARS and APGHIS will transfer their research diagnostic missions from PIADC to NBAF and will operate the facility jointly. According to the USDA, even after the agency takes ownership of the facility from the DHS, it will take at least of couple of years to transfer the full science mission from PIADC to NBAF.
The decision to replace the Plum Island facility had its roots in the 911 Commission, Moran said. NBAF is designed to help protect public health and food safety, he said.
Vilsack attended the 2015 groundbreaking. He said building the facility was time-consuming because it had to meet many rigorous standards.
Republished with permission