A report on the BBC's News Science and Environment webpage examines the status of the proposed new National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) destined for Manhattan, Kansas. The plans are for the new facility to be the first US lab to be able to research diseases such as foot and mouth in large animals. But, as the story points out, “reviews have raised worries about virus escapes in the middle of cattle country. And, rising costs have cast doubts over the project’s future.”

Currently, there is an existing facility on the grounds of Kansas State University which is classified as a biosafety level-three facility. This facility, the Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI), is operated by the university. The proposed NBAF, which will be located alongside the BRI, will have a biosafety level- four facility standard. The NBAF will have the necessary room to undertake experiments on larger animals, a task that at present the United States does not have the capability to undertake.

On the issue of the suitability of the site, the BBC reports that “Because of the location of the project a number of reviews have been carried out and these have raised serious question marks about the suitability of the site. A report carried out by the National Research Council in 2010 determined that over the 50-year life of the new laboratory there was a 0 percent chance of the accidental release of a pathogen. Subsequent reviews cut that estimate to just 0.11 percent. However, the most recent report, while supporting the idea of the NBAF, concluded that the risk assessment was 'technically inadequate in critical respects.'”

In addition to the ongoing debate over safety issues, there is also the issue of money for the entire project. In order to alleviate fears of an accidental release of a pathogen, plans for the lab have been “reworked to build in greater levels of containment,” but that translates into significantly greater cost estimates. “Many leading Republicans have ideological concerns about yet more government spending. Governing Democrats are torn between competing infrastructure projects, including new ships for the Coast Guard. President Obama did not include money for the NBAF project in his proposed budget for next year. Even if federal cash is forthcoming to get the project started, the facility is unlikely to open before 2020,” reports the BBC.