The Red and Black

Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News

Media Credit: RICHARD HAMM Edward Hammond of The Sunshine Project speaks Tuesday at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education about the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that may be built in Athens. [Click to enlarge]

An expert in biotechnical defense dispelled "myths" about the proposed construction of the National and Bio-Agricultural Defense facility Tuesday at a public forum.

Edward Hammond, the director of the Sunshine Project, addressed a packed auditorium during the discussion, which was sponsored by the group For Athens Quality of Life.

Citing a "boom" in bio-defense labs in the U.S., Hammond said the path leading to NBAF was founded upon "wrong assumptions" stemming from Sept. 11, 2001.

"The decision you're facing to build NBAF here is being faced across the nation," Hammond said. "(These facilities) have to be put into perspective."

Among the "myths" Hammond cited were statements that NBAF will research animal diseases and pose little risk to humans.

"Nearly all weaponized agents have been zoonotic (transmitted through animals)," he said.

In response to this claim, David Lee, the vice-president for research, said in a telephone interview following the forum that NBAF will not be a bio-weapons facility.

"(NBAF) is about being the animal complement to the Center for Disease Control," Lee said. "The CDC is all about protecting us from human diseases, and this facility is about protecting agricultural economy."

Lee said NBAF's opponents brand it as a bio-weapons facility using "terror tactics to try to turn Athens against it."

The animals used to test pathogens, Lee said, would be enclosed "within a box, within a box, within a box," thus preventing disease outbreaks.

Hammond said NBAF will not enhance the economy because there is no "marketplace for the product of the facility."

There is an economic risk, he said.

"There aren't a lot of people who want to take their children to Ebola beach on vacation."

Lee said small amounts of pathogens will be tested at NBAF, "unlike facilities that use pathogens to manufacture vaccines where they have to grow large amounts of the pathogens."

Hammond said federal regulations for bio-defense facilities have "deep flaws."

"There are no comprehensive accident reporting requirements," he said, citing safety violations from universities such as Texas A&M.

Lee said these violations occurred due a "robust system" for monitoring facilities.

"There are many ways that one can violate a procedure or a protocol. In the vast majority of these cases, it's a non-consequential violation," Lee said.

"There's never been a community infection or fatality from one of these facilities. We have a rigorous system for monitoring this work."

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