The bio lab's many benefits

RALEIGH -- North Carolina is one of the country's top agricultural and biotechnology states, has one of the most highly educated work-forces in the United States and is recognized for its world-class universities. We are viewed as a progressive state for public and animal health, and enjoy an enviable transportation, service, research and manufacturing infrastructure.

For these and other reasons, North Carolina -- specifically 249 acres in the Granville County portion of the 4,000-acre N.C. Department of Agriculture Umstead Research Farm -- is being considered as a possible location for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). Other finalists are in Texas, Georgia, Mississippi and Kansas.

The NBAF, a $450 million research facility, will focus on understanding and preventing diseases that could threaten our farm animals, our economy, our food supply and our families. The facility will bring work and training opportunities, including more than 1,000 construction jobs and up to 500 scientific, technical and administrative positions. Conservative estimates indicate the facility could generate more than $1.6 billion in its first 20 years.

If the NBAF came here, our state would secure national biotechnology leadership and continue the vision that is the Research Triangle Park. This time, the economic boon would include Granville County.

The N.C. Consortium for the NBAF organized to support our state's proposal. The consortium is a public-private partnership of academia, agriculture, government and the private sector that represents the entire state and has depth in agriculture, animal and public health, biomedical research, biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Members also have experience in the planning, building and managing of biosecure facilities and decades of federal experience in preparedness, biosafety and biosecure research operations.

Those supporting North Carolina's proposal include our congressional representatives; government officials; the UNC and community college systems, along with Duke University, Wake Forest University and other academic institutions; agricultural stakeholders; the private technology sector and nonprofits.

North Carolina's agricultural community alone has much to gain from a North Carolina-based NBAF. At $68 billion a year, agriculture is the state's biggest industry, and it employs close to one out of five North Carolinians. Animal agriculture (swine, poultry, cattle and dairy) comprises six of the state's top 12 commodity groups. Having the nation's reference laboratory for animal and zoonotic diseases will mean that authoritative diagnoses and decisions will not be delayed by sample travel time to another state -- and hours can make a huge difference during a local outbreak.

Locating the NBAF here will allow the country's top scientists to engage our industry, government and academia on issues critical to the nation's food supply, while keeping our state's needs well in mind. The facility will bring research dollars to our universities and community colleges and to our biotechnology industry. The collaborative efforts envisaged between the NBAF and state government, private industry and academia will allow our state's animal/human health systems to improve beyond their current high standards.

Simply put, the benefits will be felt across the region and throughout the entire state.

The NBAF site-selection process has been competitive and grueling. The federal government invited expressions of interest in 2006 and received 29 proposals from across the country. The original list was eventually narrowed to five, and public hearings were held at each site last summer. An Environmental Impact Statement review is now under way, with a final decision expected late this year.

Community acceptance is one of the factors included in the selection criteria, and various groups -- agriculture, biomedical, technology, academia, private business and state and local government, as well as area residents -- are included in this category.

There have been recent concerns expressed and much misinformation disseminated, mostly through outside groups, about the NBAF. Claims that federal high-biocontainment laboratories are inherently unsafe, or that the NBAF will be used for covert research are not true, yet these and other accusations continue to be used to confuse and frighten. Detailed information has been provided at numerous public meetings and remains available. One starting point for those with questions is the N.C. Consortium Web site at www.ncc-nbaf.org. It contains a page specifically answering the 10 most common NBAF misconceptions.

In today's world of rapid global travel of people, animals and products, our state and our country need the resources to provide rapid diagnostics and fundamental understanding of disease agents that could harm our people and our industries. The NBAF will help provide that security, and we should work hard to have it housed in our state. I urge all North Carolinians to become fully informed about this opportunity.

(Dr. Warwick Arden, D.V.M., is dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State University. He is a lead representative of the N.C. Consortium for the NBAF.)