Meeting Critical Laboratory Needs for Animal Agriculture : Examination of Three Options

Outbreaks of animal disease can have catastrophic repercussions for animal agriculture, the food supply, and public health. Rapid detection, diagnosis and response, as well as development of new vaccines, are central to mitigating the impact of disease outbreaks. The proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) is a next-generation laboratory for animal disease diagnostics, training, and research that would provide core critical components for defense against foreign animal and zoonotic disease threats. But it will be a major investment with estimated construction costs of $1.14 billion, as currently designed. Meeting Critical Laboratory Needs for Animal Agriculture: Examination of Three Optionsdiscusses the laboratory infrastructure needed to effectively address the threat posed by animal and zoonotic diseases and analyzes three options for creating this infrastructure: building NBAF as currently designed, building a scaled-back version of the NBAF, or maintaining current research capabilities at Plum Island Animal Disease Center while leveraging biosafety level-4 large animal capabilities at foreign laboratories. Table of ContentsFront MatterSummary1 Introduction2 Critical Need to Protect US Animal Agriculture3 An Integrated National System for Addressing Foreign Animal Diseases and Zoonotic Diseases4 Analysis and Conclusions about Three Approaches for Providing US Infrastructure to Counter Foreign Animal Disease and Zoonotic Disease Threats5 Overarching Conclusions and RecommendationAppendixesAppendix A: Committee BiosketchesAppendix B: Meeting AgendasAppendix C: Brief History of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center