Plum Island government facility

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The Plum Island government facility of 840 acres is accessible by ferryboat or helicopter, about one and a half miles off Orient Point, the easternmost hamlet on the North Fork of Long Island. Not to be confused with the wildlife preserve of the same name, Plum Island is home to a series of labs which are officially categorized by the USDA as an animal research facility. However, in the years since its inception, it has come under public scrutiny on several occasions, and reports from insiders sometimes clash with the "official" statements regarding the work that goes on there.

1 History
2 Research
3 Faulty quarantine
4 Speculation
5 Today
6 References
7 External links
8 Relevant discussion threads

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History

Plum Island first began its service to the United States in 1789, where then-president George Washington ordered construction of a lighthouse to identify turbulent tidal waters and shoals, aiding merchant vessels trafficking in and out of New York. Fort Terry was constructed there in 1879 and was fortified for use in both the Spanish-American War and World War II. The island remained a military installation until 1954, when ownership was transferred to the USDA, officially to be used in the study of exotic animal diseases such as African Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth Disease. The Army barracks and weapons batteries were left on the island, and are still there today.

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Research

In 1954, operating under the guise of an animal research facility, the USDA and the Army jointly constructed two bio-containment quarantines, Lab 257 and Lab 101. During this time, the United States was in the beginnings of the Cold War, a time best noted for nuclear proliferation and the space race. One of the lesser-known activites of this period was Project Paperclip, a top-secret program in which the Unites States government recruited former Nazi scientists of varying specialization and brought them to America, along with employment contracts and full citizenship, to continue their studies in the Cold-War rush for military superiority. The full number of scientists recruited in this way is unknown, but estimated at anywhere from five hundred to two thousand persons.

One of the most infamous of these former Nazis was Erich Traub, who had worked directly for Adolf Hitler's second-in-command, SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler, on live germ trials involving various bioweapons.

Among the many biological agents cultivated on Plum Island were Dawson's Encephalitis (now known as West Nile Virus), and Lyme Disease.

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Faulty quarantine

Fort Terry's original design had not called for the measures required of a true bio-containment facility, and from the very beginning of its germ research program Plum Island experienced various problems.

Initially, Lab 101 was the first building on the compound to be compromised. During a particularly strong storm in 1969, extreme winds blew sections of the roof from the building and tore the exterior door from its hinges. Employees were quick to respond, and all biological agents were verified to be secure, but the potential of what could have been an outbreak was not lost on the staff.

In 1971, Lab 257, which housed the deadliest germs on Plum Island, lost power due to a downed electric line. The power remained out for several hours, during which time the air filtration system failed and began allowing potentially virulent air out of the containment facility and into the environment. Like the previous incident, all biological agents were reported to be secure, but for weeks afterward an abnormal amount of animal carcasses, mostly birds, were found all over the island.

Staffing was also an issue. Given the somewhat remote location of the lab, employees would be on the island for days or weeks at a time, sleeping in the barracks and eating at in-house facilities until their "weekend", when they could return to the mainland until their next shift. Due to this trying nature of the work, it was allegedly commonplace for security guards to end their shift and leave, without being relieved by a fresh detail, leaving the facilities unsecured and accessible to virtually anyone.

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Speculation

Plum Island is the center of various rumours, and often takes conspiratorial blame for now-common diseases that thrive within America over the last several decades. The highest-profile example is undoubtedly Lyme Disease, which at the time of its study was carried by the Lone Star Tick, an insect that was found only in certain areas of Texas.

During the 1970s, reports of Lyme Disease began surfacing in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. A southern virus springing up so far north (and suspiciously close to a well-known germ facility) prompted complaints from citizens and ex-employees about Plum Island's secretive and controversial nature. Soon afterwards, Long Island Congressman Thomas Downey launched an investigation into the island which eventually turned up interesting results. A internal research document recovered from the island, entitled "African Swine Fever", revealed that: "during testing, it was found that the adult and nymphal stages of Abylomma americanum and Abylomma cajunense were found to be incapable of harboring and transmitting African swine fever virus." In layman's terms, this meant that Plum Island was experimenting with the Lone Star tick and the Cayenne tick, feeding them on viruses and testing them on pigs, during the time Lyme disease was being reported far from its original habitat. They did not transmit African swine fever to pigs, said the document, but they might have transmitted it to researchers or to the island's vectors. Naturally, this was a public relations disaster, and Plum Island remained a topic of controversy for years.

In 1995, DHS official Maureen McCarthy told the AP that Lab 257 was closed, and "right now it poses no health hazard." Moreover, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson, Sandy Miller-Hays, told the news service that --counter to various claims, declassified documents and a book written on the subject-- "Lyme disease was never studied at Plum Island."

Plum Island

The Laboratory Compound

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Today

Despite its checkered past, Plum Island remains in operation, having been upgraded and rennovated to keep with modern demands. These days known as the "Alcatraz for Animal Disease", its official purpose is to develope vaccines and treatment protocols to respond to outbreaks of animal diseases, and to help protect the nation's food supply and livestock industry. As a result, many rare and dangerous diseases are still stored on Plum Island, posing a potential security risk both to nearby residents and to food safety. It is currently classified as BL (Biosafety Level) 3, and still handles the infectious animal pathogens foot and mouth disease, African Swine Fever and West Nile Virus. Needless to say, it is still an object of attention for conspiracy theorists, concerned citizens and civil leaders alike.

In June 2003, with the United States still beefing up security in the wake of the September 11th attacks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took over control of the island from the USDA. Citing national security, DHS removed most of the detailed information about Plum Island, and Labs 257 and 101 in specific, from the public sector. In 2004, island employees ended their work strike, which had begun two years previous over a demand for higher pay in light of what they described as "unsafe working conditions". The center currently has 180 employees, 92 of whom are research scientists with the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service.

Although the government has long maintained that bioweapons research is not being conducted there, on August 24, 2006 President George W. Bush requested $23 million be set aside in the defense budget to upgrade key structures of the facility, possibly bringing it up to BL4, the highest level of biocontainment usually reserved for bioweapons storage.

Today, Plum Island's official website states: "We're proud of our role as America's first line of defense against foreign animal diseases. We're equally proud of our safety record. Not once in our nearly 50 years of operation has an animal pathogen escaped from the island."

Michael Carrol, author of a book about the island, has this to say about it: "Today, as one of the workers said to me, 'Mike, two Eskimos in a kayak could take Plum Island.' "

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