Agriculture

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.

Roberts Talks About Kansas Biosecurity Center

KCUR | By Laura Ziegler

Published February 5, 2007 at 10:37 AM CST

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-563929.mp3

Sen. Pat Roberts, the former Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and member of the Agriculture Committee, says biosecurity is a national concern and that Kansas is a natural place to put it front and center.

The proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, as it's known in Washington, will replace the aging lab on Plum Island, near New York. That lab has been the premier biosecurity facility to date.

The senator says he's proposing locating the facility in either Leavenworth or Manhattan, where a sophisticated biosciences lab already exists.

"One of our big selling points is we can do it pretty doggone quick," he says. "We have the agriculture biosecurity facility out at K-State that is unequaled in the world in what it can do, and we can do it a lot faster than any other state."

Roberts will make his pitch before a joint session of the Kansas House and Senate Monday morning.