States vie to host deadly disease research lab (to handle the most lethal, incurable disease agents)

[rainbow4321]

Silly me for thinking that the location of a place with deadly, incurable agents would be, oh, CLASSIFIED information. You know, like Cheney's "undisclosed location"...way to go, Homeland "not-so-secure" Security...what's next, a televised ribbon cutting ceremony when it opens?

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4780773.html

A dozen states are competing intensely to play host to a government research lab full of killer germs like anthrax, avian flu or foot-and-mouth disease — a prospect some of their residents may want to avoid like the plague.
<snip

Besides Texas, which has a total of four sites in contention, states bidding for the site are California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Georgia, Kansas and Mississippi are offering two sites each, while Kentucky and Tennessee are working together for one site in Kentucky.

Homeland Security officials are still deciding which additional pathogens will be researched at the lab. Scientists and officials from various states have named, among others, anthrax, small pox and Marbug and Lhasa, rare hemorrhagic fevers that attack the vascular system and cause it to leak.

The lab will have the highest level security rating, BSL-4, meaning it would be equipped to handle the most lethal, incurable disease agents. The lab will be the only one in the country to integrate study of lethal agents that could be used as bioweapons on humans and in agriculture, research on diseases that could be passed between animal and human, and foreign animal diseases.

[lapfog_1]

1. hemorrhagic fever...

That's what *I* want in my town!!!

Marburg, Lhasa, EBOLA.

They want to play with these things they should build a lab like the one in "The Andromeda Strain" and in a location far from people.

[Forkboy]

2. They could set it up in my basement...release the pathogens...

..and it still wouldn't stop my landlord from smoking crack every weekend.

[blueworld]

3. Do I need a tinfoil wig?

Or are all the sites bidding for this prize in tornado alley, hurricane heaven or sitting on earthquake faults? :tinfoilhat:

[qdemn7]

4. Classified? Why?

Anyone who is up on BioWarfare knows that Fort Detrick, MA is the current home of the bad stuff. Don't think the bad guys know that?