Biodefense Lab located in Galveston
Fri Sep 23, 2005 16:18
64.140.158.159
CNN interview discussed the Biodefense Lab located in Galveston -stated there were 6 dangerous viruses stored in the lab which SHOULD withstand CAT 5 Hurricane
Galveston will be home of national biodefense lab
Center to aim to protect against natural and man-made outbreaks
11:02 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003
By BRUCE NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnew...ease.833f1.html
HOUSTON – Texas moved to the front lines of America's defense against bioterrorism as well as natural epidemics Tuesday when federal health officials picked Galveston as the site of one of two new national infectious disease laboratories.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was awarded a $110 million grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory. The University of Texas system is contributing $40 million.
The laboratory will be part of a new biodefense network that will include a second national lab at the Boston University Medical Campus in Massachusetts and nine regional facilities across the country.
"What a great day for UTMB, Galveston and indeed Texas and the nation," UTMB President John Stobo said.
The lab "will play a key role in developing effective therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines to protect the American public not only against the potential ravages of terrorism but the more awesome threat posed by Mother Nature," said Stanley Lemon, UTMB dean of medicine.
"It's a ... home run for Texas for certain," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the allergy and infectious diseases institute, an agency of the National Institutes of Health.
The 160,000-square-foot building and its 13,000-square-foot lab, expected to open in August 2008, will provide capabilities that do not exist in the United States for fighting infectious disease outbreaks, whether natural or man-made, officials said.
The lab will be one of the nation's largest, operating at biosafety level four – the highest level of containment of viruses and bacteria – and will have enough space for big, high-tech equipment to study the most dangerous live pathogens and for animal testing, officials said.
Several smaller labs are currently in operation, including one run by the Army in Maryland and another operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but their capabilities are narrower and more limited, officials said.
UTMB will own and run the lab, but it will be a national resource, open to qualified researchers across the country, Dr. Stobo said. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sets priorities, but its work will be coordinated with the agency and partner institutions, he said.
The lab will be available for research not only on priority problems such as SARS or anthrax outbreaks but also on longer-term issues such as West Nile virus, officials said.
Some criticize the secrecy associated with biodefense labs and demand that the government and the institutions allow more public monitoring.
"The facility needs to be an open book," said Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin-based bioweapons watchdog group. "What you need is the ability of third parties, of independent people to look into the activities of the lab ... in terms of their safety and their peaceful intent."
Federal and state laws, including the Patriot Act, limit information that the institution can release, such as the exact location of pathogens, but "what we're doing, our approaches to research, are a matter of public record," said C.J. Peters, UTMB's director of biodefense. There are no plans to produce bioweapons, officials said.
UTMB already had faced questions about the safety of the facility and two years ago started reaching out to the public to allay concerns, Dr. Stobo said.
The facility will keep only small quantities of infectious agents, and plans are in place to shut down the operation if there's a terrorist attack or the threat of a hurricane, a regular summer hazard for Galveston, officials said.
In the unlikely event that some pathogen escapes, plans are in place to coordinate control efforts with area health officials, Dr. Lemon said.
Officials acknowledged that local support is still not 100 percent, but Mayor Roger "Bo" Quiroga said the majority of residents back the project.
"I think that was a big key in the selection of Galveston," he said.
UTMB estimates that the lab will employ 200 people and have an economic impact on the Houston-Galveston area of at least $75 million annually, counting expected research grants alone.
Staff writer Diane Jennings in Dallas contributed to this report.
____________________________________________________
"It is interesting that they would put a facility like this in
Galveston, on the Gulf (hurricane) coast, where the most fatalities
this century were experienced in a hurricane. This is a flat sandy
island with one bridge to the mainland. What kind of idiot would put
it there?"
Mark Klempner ...working hard to gain the community's trust
=========================
http://www.cloakanddagger.de/media/S_284_S/__CLOAK%20EXCLUSIVE.htm
re: american emergency
http://www.thebyteshow.com/Library.html
http://benfrank.net/blog/2005/09/18/treason /
c.
Galveston will be home of national biodefense lab
Center to aim to protect against natural and man-made outbreaks
11:02 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003
By BRUCE NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnew...ease.833f1.html
HOUSTON – Texas moved to the front lines of America's defense against bioterrorism as well as natural epidemics Tuesday when federal health officials picked Galveston as the site of one of two new national infectious disease laboratories.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was awarded a $110 million grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory. The University of Texas system is contributing $40 million.
The laboratory will be part of a new biodefense network that will include a second national lab at the Boston University Medical Campus in Massachusetts and nine regional facilities across the country.
"What a great day for UTMB, Galveston and indeed Texas and the nation," UTMB President John Stobo said.
The lab "will play a key role in developing effective therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines to protect the American public not only against the potential ravages of terrorism but the more awesome threat posed by Mother Nature," said Stanley Lemon, UTMB dean of medicine.
"It's a ... home run for Texas for certain," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the allergy and infectious diseases institute, an agency of the National Institutes of Health.
The 160,000-square-foot building and its 13,000-square-foot lab, expected to open in August 2008, will provide capabilities that do not exist in the United States for fighting infectious disease outbreaks, whether natural or man-made, officials said.
The lab will be one of the nation's largest, operating at biosafety level four – the highest level of containment of viruses and bacteria – and will have enough space for big, high-tech equipment to study the most dangerous live pathogens and for animal testing, officials said.
Several smaller labs are currently in operation, including one run by the Army in Maryland and another operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but their capabilities are narrower and more limited, officials said.
UTMB will own and run the lab, but it will be a national resource, open to qualified researchers across the country, Dr. Stobo said. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sets priorities, but its work will be coordinated with the agency and partner institutions, he said.
The lab will be available for research not only on priority problems such as SARS or anthrax outbreaks but also on longer-term issues such as West Nile virus, officials said.
Some criticize the secrecy associated with biodefense labs and demand that the government and the institutions allow more public monitoring.
"The facility needs to be an open book," said Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin-based bioweapons watchdog group. "What you need is the ability of third parties, of independent people to look into the activities of the lab ... in terms of their safety and their peaceful intent."
Federal and state laws, including the Patriot Act, limit information that the institution can release, such as the exact location of pathogens, but "what we're doing, our approaches to research, are a matter of public record," said C.J. Peters, UTMB's director of biodefense. There are no plans to produce bioweapons, officials said.
UTMB already had faced questions about the safety of the facility and two years ago started reaching out to the public to allay concerns, Dr. Stobo said.
The facility will keep only small quantities of infectious agents, and plans are in place to shut down the operation if there's a terrorist attack or the threat of a hurricane, a regular summer hazard for Galveston, officials said.
In the unlikely event that some pathogen escapes, plans are in place to coordinate control efforts with area health officials, Dr. Lemon said.
Officials acknowledged that local support is still not 100 percent, but Mayor Roger "Bo" Quiroga said the majority of residents back the project.
"I think that was a big key in the selection of Galveston," he said.
UTMB estimates that the lab will employ 200 people and have an economic impact on the Houston-Galveston area of at least $75 million annually, counting expected research grants alone.
Staff writer Diane Jennings in Dallas contributed to this report.
____________________________________________________
"It is interesting that they would put a facility like this in
Galveston, on the Gulf (hurricane) coast, where the most fatalities
this century were experienced in a hurricane. This is a flat sandy
island with one bridge to the mainland. What kind of idiot would put
it there?"
Mark Klempner ...working hard to gain the community's trust
=========================
http://www.cloakanddagger.de/media/S_284_S/__CLOAK%20EXCLUSIVE.htm
re: american emergency
http://www.thebyteshow.com/Library.html
http://benfrank.net/blog/2005/09/18/treason /
c.
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