Homeland Security Ponders Future of Its Animal Disease Fortress

Abstract

The Alcatraz of animal diseases may come ashore. Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC)—which studies the most devastating agricultural diseases on a tiny speck in the Atlantic off Long Island, New York—will be replaced by a new facility that may be located elsewhere. The state's politicians, who oppose expanding the lab's remit but don't want it to close, immediately blasted the proposal. But some scientists say they would welcome leaving the remote, impractical location.