In spite of all our differences, the one thing that binds all living creatures is that we each have an expiration date. This finality to our existence is what makes life special, something to be cherished and protected. But occasionally things can go terribly wrong…
The U.S. government plans to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak. Skeptical members of Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision.
An epidemic of the "foot-and-mouth" disease, which only affects animals, could devastate the livestock industry. A computer-simulated outbreak of the disease ended with food shortages and fictional riots in the streets after the simulation’s National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets.
The foot-and-mouth virus can be carried on a worker’s breath or clothes, or vehicles leaving a lab, and is so contagious it has been confined to remote Plum Island, N.Y., for more than a half-century. The lab is currently 100 miles northeast of New York City and far from commercial livestock, accessible only by ferry or helicopter. Researchers there who work with the live virus are not permitted to own animals at home and must wait at least a week before attending events where animals might perform, such as a circus. The government plans to move the virus lab to Manhattan, Kansas, in the heart of the nation’s breadbasket and in close proximity to over a half million livestock.
