Gill opposes Flora National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility

Starkville Daily News - Biolab’s safety questioned - In a meeting at the West Point Stockyard Thursday morning, cattlemen gathered to learn more and express concerns to representatives of the state's bid for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. Stanley Scott, Mississippi's membership chair for R-Calf USA, an organization representing cattle producers, organized the meeting Thursday to ensure the possible concerns of those he represents were voiced. Before the meeting, Scott and Joel Gill, Democratic candidate for U.S. representative for the Third Congressional District, said they were concerned about the potential economic and health impact of the possible accidental release of an infectious disease like foot and mouth disease (FMD) into the Mississippi cattle population. Scott and Gill said they worry that FMD could escape the Biosafety Level 4 facility as previously occurred at the Plum Island facility (a Level 3 facility), but its separate and remote location prevented the disease from spreading off the island while the Flora site and the other proposed sites are located in populated areas. The release of FMD in 1978 at Plum Island was determined largely to be due to the age of the facility, said Dr. Bianca Garner, a microbiologist consulting on the project for the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. Older biolab facilities are more difficult to upgrade and maintain, especially when in a remote location like Plum Island, Garner said. By bringing the biolab to a mainland area, maintenance and upgrades could be more routinely performed, she said. Garner pointed to the safe operation of a Biosafety Level 3 facility at UMMC as representative of the feasibility of maintaining a high-level lab in a highly-populated area. Garner has worked in the UMMC lab in Level 3 with anthrax and holds FBI clearance and CDC certification. Gill supported the demolition and complete rebuilding of the facility on Plum Island. "I think we really need to upgrade the facility but in its current location," Gill said. "The diseases that they work with are far too dangerous." Gill currently serves as president of the Mississippi Livestock Markets Association, an organization of sale barns and licensed dealers in the state, he is also a second-term aldermen in Pickens and serves on the boards for the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce and the Holmes County Cattlemen's Association. All the potential biolab sites are in major cattle feeding areas, Gill said. For Gill, the potential risk of a FMD outbreak is too great to the state. "In the name of economic development, I think it's too high a price to pay," he said. The economic impact of the $451 million facility is estimated at $3 billion to $5 billion over 20 years. "I think the economic impact is going to be much higher than that," Dzielak said. The lab's location in Mississippi could also push the state into the biotechnology sector, he said. Despite the answers Garner and Dzielak brought to the table, Scott and Gill remained concerned about the potential impact on their livelihoods from an outbreak of FMD. "I feel a little better about it," Gill said after the meeting, noting that he still is concerned, especially since he makes his living from the livestock industry. "I wish I could feel at ease about it ... but in light of this foot and mouth disease, I'm just a little nervous," Scott said. "It is in my mind as one of the world's most dangerous research labs and should be treated as such."