[CTRL] Plum Island

[Euphorian]

-Caveat Lector-

>From http://www.ars.usda.gov/plum/

}}}>Begin
History of Plum Island
Early Years
Formerly known as the Isle of
Patmos, Plum Island was renamed by early explorers for the profusion
of native
plum trees on its beaches.
In 1669, Samuel Wyllys of
Hartford, Conn., acquired the island from the Corchough and Mantauk
tribes. The price: "a coat, a barrel of biscuits and 100 muxes or
fish hooks."
In 1688, the island was sold
to Joseph Dudley of Roxbury, Mass., who later became governor of the
Massachusetts Colony from 1702 to 1715.
The island was divided into
two parcels in the early 1700s. Joseph Beebe farmed the west half,
and Daniel
Tuthill farmed the eastern half.
During the American
Revolution, the island became a rendezvous for British warships,
which attacked
and made off with about 20 sheep. On Aug. 18, 1775, the Continental
Congress
ordered all livestock off the island to stop such raids.
In 1805, Benjamin Jerome
began purchasing parcels of Plum Island. His son Richard continued to
buy land,
and by 1834 he owned the entire west half and some of the east half,
using the
land for agriculture and raising cattle until his death in 1869.
The U.S. government
purchased three acres on the island in 1826 to build a lighthouse.
The
lighthouse was replaced in 1869 with the present structure.
Around 1890, A.S. Hewitt, a
former mayor of New London, Conn., acquired the entire island to
develop it as
a summer resort. However, his plans did not materialize.
War Department Moves to Plum
Island
In 1897, A.S. Hewitt sold 150
acres on the east end to the War Department for $25,000. The
Department began building Fort Terry and associated coastal and
harbor defenses. Construction of
the first battery started in 1897. The first gun was in service
during the 1898 Spanish-American War.
In 1901, the War Department
acquired the rest of the island, except for the lighthouse
reservation, for a
sum of $64,700. The growth of military fortifications at Fort Terry
continued.
By 1914 the fort had 11 batteries, extensive submarine mining
capabilities, and
a sophisticated fire regulation and position-finding system. Anti-
aircraft guns were installed during World War I.
After the war's end, Fort
Terry was placed in “caretaker status” under maintenance by personnel
from Fort H.G. Wright, at Fishers Island, N.Y.
With the advent of World War
II in 1941, Fort Terry again became an Army training camp and new
batteries
were constructed. The island also served to resupply submarines and
patrolling
torpedo boats.
On June 22, 1948, the Army
declared Fort Terry as surplus property and it was again placed under
the
custody of personnel from Fort H.G. Wright.
Plum Island Gets Army
Research Facility
On April 25, 1952, Fort Terry
was transferred to the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, which had been
planning an
animal disease research laboratory on Plum Island since 1951.
Plans were to house the new
laboratory within the Combined Torpedo Storehouse and Cable Tanks
(circa 1911),
also known as building 257. Remodeling of 18 Fort Terry buildings
also was
contracted out in 1952.
At the completion of all
construction work on May 26, 1954, the Chemical Corps Plum Island
facility was
officially deactivated, without ever having used the new laboratory
facilities.
USDA Research
After the eradication of
foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from the United States in 1929, there
were no
facilities in the country with the authority or the ability to work
with this
highly contagious virus.
An outbreak of FMD in Mexico
in December 1946 created the sense of emergency that prompted
Congress to authorize the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal
Industry, to
construct a facility on an offshore location to study this disease.
But it took another outbreak
of FMD, this time in Canada in 1952, for Congress to appropriate the
necessary
funds for the new laboratory.
The USDA was designated to
receive the transfer of Plum Island in 1952, about the time when the
Chemical
Corps was initiating the laboratory building process. Planning for an
entirely
new research laboratory to be built on Plum Island by the USDA began
in 1953,
and it was contracted on June 10, 1954.
On July 1, 1954, just as the
construction of the new laboratory building 101 was taking place, the
Army
officially transferred the property of Plum Island to USDA. At this
time, the
Bureau of Animal Industry’s scientists were already working on
building
257. The new Plum Island Animal Disease Laboratory building 101
compound was dedicated on Sept. 26, 1956. All of the 18 Fort Terry
buildings renovated by
the Chemical Corps in 1952-54 were occupied by the new Plum Island
Animal
Disease Center (PIADC).
Plans for the modernization
of PIADC began in 1977. The master plan recommended construction of
new
facilities to house most of the functions then located in the Fort
Terry post
buildings and batteries.
A series of events led to the
abandonment of the large animal holding facilities in the batteries.
These
included construction of new animal supply facilities, a decrease in
the need
for large laboratory animals, and an outbreak of FMD on Plum Island
in 1978.
Expansions of laboratory buildings 101 and 257, initiated in 1977,
were halted
in 1979 due to irregularities in the construction contract.
In 1984, the diagnostic and
training missions of the PIADC were transferred from USDA’s
Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) to USDA’s
Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This new unit, the
Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory    (FADDL), became one of
the several laboratories of the National Veterinary Services
Laboratories, which are headquartered in Ames, Iowa. Most laboratory
activities of FADDL were confined to building 257.

Building 100,
                the Science Support Building, provides administrative support to
research and
                diagnostic operations.
Modernization of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center
A study aimed at modernizing
the facilities was developed in 1990. Decreases in research
activities and
personnel, and the age of Building 257, led to a consolidation plan
completed
in 1995. Building 100 was constructed and attached to the front of
laboratory
Building 101.
The consolidation project
included remodeling of nearly two-thirds of the laboratory space
within
Building 101 and the closing of laboratory Building 257 and most of
the Fort Terry-era buildings.
In October 1991, all
operation and maintenance activities were privatized, transferring to
a
contractor (under USDA supervision) all personnel involved in these
activities. Currently the operations and maintenance of the PIADC are
conducted through a
contract with LB&B Associates, Inc., headquartered in Columbia,
Md.

End<{{{

}}}>Begin
What
is the difference between BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratory
facilities?
BSL-3 and BSL-4 facilities
use the same kinds of safeguards to keep any pathogens from escaping
to the environment. But BSL-4 has an additional design goal: to
prevent physical
contact--within the laboratory--between pathogens and lab personnel.
To meet
this goal, people working in a BSL-4 laboratory wear special
protective suits.
A BSL-4 facility would also require increased security to monitor
access. But
it would pose no additional safety concerns for the surrounding
area.

End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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