‘High-consequence’: Two words that are key to bio-agro defense facility debate

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC. – The economic developer reacted quite strongly to the question about whether local backers could prevail in efforts to build a bio-terror research facility near Butner.

“First of all,” he said, “there is no such thing as the bio-terror research facility.”

The proper name is National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.

The subject matter is downright scary: foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, the Hendra and Nipah viruses (encephalitis) …

A lot of people in the region have spoken out against locating the new Department of Homeland Security facility in our neck of the woods, no matter what the name. The release of a report about the project on Friday ignited a new round in the debate.

The facility would be used for “basic and advanced research, diagnostic testing and validation, countermeasure development (i.e., vaccines and antiviral therapies), and diagnostic training for high-consequence livestock diseases with potentially devastating impacts to U.S. agriculture and public health,” the feds said in the latest update/

That phrase “high-consequence” is a real eye-opener.

Here is own the Department of Homeland Security spells out what it calls “biosafety levels,” with the proposed Butner facility needing to meet stiff requirements:

“Four levels of biosafety levels are used to define the types of facilities, protective equipment, and administrative controls needed to conduct research on pathogens. Each level is meticulously designed to prevent lab-acquired infections and to protect the environment from potentially hazardous pathogens.

“BSL-2. Facilities appropriate for handling indigenous agents of moderate risk to personnel and the environment.

“BSL-3. Facilities appropriate for handling pathogens of indigenous or exotic origin with a known potential for aerosol transmission.

“BSL-3E. Refers to the protective enhancements commensurate with the risk assessment of the pathogens and requirements for agricultural protection.

“BSL-3Ag. Refers to research involving large agricultural animals and foreign and emerging pathogens that may cause serious consequences in livestock but are not harmful to humans because protective measures are available.

“BSL-4. Facilities appropriate for handling exotic pathogens that pose a high risk of life-threatening disease in animals and humans through the aerosol route and for which there is no known vaccine or therapy.”

Read those terms again. If you aren’t familiar with the debate about the facility and the critical issues involved, then enlighten yourself. This facility is crucial to the safety of our country, but the consequences of an accident are huge.

Where to build the National Bio- and Argo-Defense Facility is a debate that concerns us all.