What is the biosafety level of the UC Merced infectious disease laboratory?
News that UC Merced is to receive its first shipment animal lab victims is sad. The lab is to be operated by UC/Bechtel et al/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) until such time as UC Merced gets accreditation to torture and kill the animals itself, as befits the "greatest research university" in the world.
We have frequently reminded readers that the only legitimate academic credential this new UC campus among the vernal pools has is its memorandum of understanding with LLNL. "Research into infectious diseases and the immune system" is alarming news, particularly in view of of LLNL's biosafety level-3 lab in Livermore and its proposal for a biosafety level 3 and 4 lab at its bomb-testing site near Tracy. These labs, called bio-defense lab, study infectious diseases (some with no cure) and the immune system, allegedly to defend the nation against biological attack from terrorists that use commercial airplanes as missiles and use homemade missiles and mines quite successfully against US troops that have invaded a country with no ties to 9/11 and no weapons of mass destruction program yet found.
A problem with such labs that ought to concern the citizens of Merced is the chance of these infectious diseases escaping this laboratory (said by one UC Merced worker to have been built underground). For lack of evidence to the contrary, the public ought to assume that UC Merced's animal lab program will remain integrated with the goals of LLNL, which can as easily be called biowarfare as biodefense.
The first question about this UC Merced lab ought to be its biosafety level. The subject has not been mentioned. Madame McClatchy taught her local gigolo, Sonny Star, to never ever ask embarrassing questions to a long-time, regular customer like UC Merced.
UC Merced/Bechtel/LLNL propaganda at the moment is that construction of the lab was very hush-hush for fear of attack by mad environmentalist animal lovers, bent on liberating white rats and mice. A boy with high-toned, socially acceptable opinions like Sonny Star would enthusiastically join in the condemnation of those people, because Sonny knows where he's buttered. A newspaper reporter on the other hand, the sort of person Madame McClatchy taught Sonny not to be caught dead with, would ask the question on behalf of the common good and the public trust.
If the UC Merced lab is handling infectious diseases, what biosafety level has it been assigned and by what agency? Is the lab in legal compliance?
The LLNL proposal for the biosafety level-4 lab, which will contain the most deadly toxins known to humanity, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, is said to perhaps create a facility to replace the animal disease lab operated for years at Plum Island, NY. Before the USDA took over this facility, it was a US Army biowarfare lab. There is strong evidence, dismissed out of hand by officials under National Security constraint, that security at Plum Island was so lax that Lyme Disease, W. Nile Fever and possibly Newcastle's Disease escaped to the US from Plum Island. Although a large island in the Long Island Sound, it doesn't appear on all maps.
A general problem with such research is that historically, it is geared to producing biological weapons to be used against enemies rather than antidotes to protect the homeland. The only biological warfare attack against the US in recent years was the anthrax attack a week after 9/11. The anthrax has been traced to a US biowarfare lab.
A statement
This whole bio-defense/warfare binge since 9/11 (five level-4 labs are in the works) is nothing but bioterror Pentagon pork. This statement is sure to put Sonny Star and local politicians entirely in the pay of finance, insurance and real estate special interests into a collective yawn at their Memorial Day party. Happy swimming, golf and BBQ. Be sure not to drink and drive.
Bill Hatch
-------------------
5-22-07
UC Merced to get first lab animals...Victor A. Patton
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/local/story/13610283p-14207825c.html
The first lab-test mice and rats that will be used for scientific research purposes at UC Merced will likely be kept at the university starting within the next 14 days, university officials said Monday...school is putting the finishing touches on its 5,000-square-foot vivarium... Sam Traina, UC Merced's vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, said the university is awaiting final approval from officials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to begin keeping animals at the facility. Until UC Merced obtains its own operating license from a national oversight board, Lawrence Livermore researchers will be responsible for providing oversight and review of the vivarium, which should occur by September... Much of the research performed at the facility will involve study into infectious diseases and the immune system, as well as some stem cell research. Roy Hoglund, the vivarium's director, said the first set of animals at the facility will primarily be "sentinel animals"... Traina said most major construction on the building was completed by the end of April. The facility is located inside an existing wing of the school's Science and Engineering building and will contain about $2 million in lab equipment...officials have said they will seek to have the facility approved by Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Lab Animal Care, a private, nonprofit organization that promotes the humane treatment of lab animals through a voluntary accreditation and assessment program