This week Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack helped to break ground on the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas.
“The NBAF laboratory will provide the nation with cutting edge, state-of-the-art, lab capabilities and help protect our food supply and the nation’s public health,” said Secretary Johnson. “The economic impact of a bio agricultural threat – deliberate or natural – could have a substantial effect on the food supply of this Nation and have serious human health consequences. With the NBAF, our Nation will have the first Bio Level 4 lab facility of its kind – a state-of-the-art bio-containment facility for the study of foreign animal and emerging diseases.”
When completed and fully operational in 2022, the $1.25 billion NBAF will be a 570,000 sq.ft, biocontainment facility for the study of foreign animal and emerging zoonotic (transmitted from animals to humans) diseases that threaten animal agriculture and public health in the United States.
“This innovative new facility is capable of producing the research needed to protect our nation’s farmers, food supply, public health and the rural economy. It has been a national priority for USDA, DHS, and our other partners as we work to replace aging facilities,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Remarks from Secretaries Vilsack and Johnson at NBAF groundbreaking
Secretaries Johnson and Vilsack were joined by a number of dignitaries on Wednesday to celebrate the groundbreaking, including Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran of Kansas, Reps. Tim Huelskamp and Lynn Jenkins and others. Located in the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world, the NBAF will replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) in New York, and will be the first laboratory facility in the United States allowing researchers to study zoonotic diseases that affect livestock and other large animals.