|
Utah wants a proposed $150 million plant at Dugway
Proving Ground that would manufacture germ-warfare vaccines for U.S.
troops, Gov. Mike Leavitt has told the Army.
The facility would house a large-scale operation using live organisms
to produce vaccines against anthrax, botulism, tularemia and other
deadly diseases carried in biological weapons.
It also would produce about 200 jobs for Dugway.
"We certainly would welcome it," base spokeswoman Melynda Petrie said.
Initially, the Army considered Fort Detrick, Md., for the plant but
since has solicited proposals from other bases. Dugway is competing
against Fort Detrick; Aberdeen Proving Ground, also in Maryland; and
Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., according to the news reports.
Petrie said the Army asked Dugway this past winter to submit a
proposal, which touts the vast military post's remote location in west
Tooele County and existing laboratories where biological and chemical
defense research is conducted.
"We feel it would be a very good match to place the facility here,"
she said.
But Dugway critics say it could be a disaster, citing the large
amounts of live agent necessary to produce vaccines and the Army's
dismal history of accidents and secrecy in germ warfare testing at
Dugway and elsewhere.
"We are not talking about research and testing here; this is mass
production," said Steve Erickson, spokesman for military watchdog
group Downwinders.
And minuscule amounts of the microbes used in producing vaccines can
kill someone, said Dr. Zell McGee, a professor of infectious diseases
with the University of Utah medical school.
In recent years, Dugway officials have repeatedly defended their
current safety practices and have expressed a willingness to discuss
safety concerns with concerned citizens.
But McGee said the Army remains "cavalier and irresponsible" in
training the local medical community for possible accidents at Dugway.
He said military officials continue to say there is no public health
risk at Dugway and what information the Army does release about
treating exposure to biological agents is "way off base."
"I would rather have the making of vaccines in the hands of people who
know what they are doing, such as a pharmaceutical company," McGee
said.
The Army now contracts with private laboratories for its vaccines, and
expanding that arrangement is still an option, a spokesman at Fort
Detrick said.
Erickson characterized Leavitt's support as confusing, considering the
governor's vehement opposition to the Army shipping neutralized nerve
agent to Tooele Army Depot, where the nation's only chemical-arms
incinerator is located.
But Leavitt is committed to preserving the jobs and tax base produced
by Utah's military complex, which is facing cutbacks. In his March 3
letter to the secretary of the Army, Leavitt said the Wasatch Front's
technical and scientific support would enable the plant to "achieve
its mission efficiently and effectively."
"The proximity of Salt Lake City, with its diverse and vibrant
culture, would be an invaluable asset for the proving ground to
attract and retain a highly skilled work force, which is one of the
most essential elements for this facility," he wrote.
According to the Baltimore Sun report, the Pentagon has labeled the
vaccine plant an urgent need. During the Persian Gulf War, the U.S.
military had no reliable source of vaccine against the strains of
anthrax and botulism the Iraqis were thought to possess, the report
says.
The vaccines it did produce were experimental and suspected of causing
gulf war syndrome - a range of mysterious illnesses afflicting
thousands of veterans who say they were inoculated with the vaccines.
In addition to improving vaccines for anthrax and botulism, the
newspaper said, the Army's Science and Technology master plan lists
numerous vaccines the service wants to obtain to counter viruses and
"all deadly or debilitating agents that could be used in weapons."
The proposed facility would be no ordinary factory or laboratory. An
"information paper" obtained by the Deseret News explaining facts
about the proposed facility describe it as a BL-3, a category designed
to safely handle biological experiments. Such a facility already
exists at Dugway, and another is under construction.
"Community acceptance of an additional BL-3 facility is likely to be
higher than at most populated installations," the information paper
said.
But Dugway's new BL-3 lab was downgraded from a BL-4 after public
outcry. And Erickson said he hopes to organize a similar protest
against the vaccine center "before it goes too far down the pipeline."
"Through the Physicians for Social Responsibility we will be giving
our input on this issue to the press," McGee said. |
