Plum foolish

This weekend I was doing my basic cowering of scientific journals from around the globe. For me this is like going to the club or bar hopping. It started because I had these two articles I had to proof for some journals that I wrote – BTW Cardiovascular risk reduction for African American men through health empowerment and anger management will be out soon in Health Education Journal, 67(3)208-218. Stephens et al (2008).

Any who, in my reading I went over the latest press releases from research facilities across the countries because shit like this never makes the news papers. One that struck out involved the possible relocation of the Plum Island Animal Research Center.

Now I first heard of this place in a book, Silence of the Lambs. In the book the white FBI lady was talking to Hannibal Lechter and told jones that if he helped them catch the killer, he would be relocated to Plum Island. Plum Island is where the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in concert with the Department of Homeland Security and selected pharmaceutical companies are conducting research on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) among other deadly animal toxins and viruses. Smart you would think to have such a research instillation on an Island true. But now, based the urging of The Department of Homeland Security, the Feds want to move the facility inland. Yep, inland for a research facility that holds the world's most contagious livestock diseases.

Plum Island is located approximately 2.5 miles from tip of Long Island a used to be run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) until 2003, when the Department of Homeland Security took over. I just do not get how this could be safer in the eyes of supposedly people who got protecting the security of our country as their first mission. Can we learn anything from the British? I know we knew they were in Iraq for 27 years and eventually had to bail – lesson not learned. Also, there was an outbreak in Britain in 2001 – lesson obviously not learnt (spelling intentional) now this.

I mean from my minor background in infectious disease, I do know that FMD is way more (about 20 times) more infectious than smallpox. Add to that, FMD virus can be transferred via ones breath, saliva, mucus, clothes, or even a car. Sure it aint harmful to people – yet, but jones here eat meat. And I have not even attempted to calculate the economic impact on the country if an outbreak did occur – I like loot too much and the figures I produce may scare me.

The strange thing is that I juts want to know what kind of scientist folk got working for them – the Department of Homeland Security and If I can get a job. Because I would never make a recommendation of such, not on my understanding of disease vectors or behavioral epidemiology, but based on what I know security to mean - freedom from danger. Don’t these folk know they just giving terrorist ideas? Dang folk, now that is plum foolish.