'Not in our backyard,' activists tell Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.A group of local activists are opposing Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's attempts to win a bid on a Department of Homeland Security Noun 1. Department of Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States bio-defense facility. Tri-Valley CARES, based in Livermore, Calif., has circulated an on-line petition addressed to Secretary Michael Chertoff opposing the University of California's proposal to operate the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), under the Department of Homeland Security, will be a government run research facility. The 520,000 sf. facility is scheduled to begin construction in 2010, become operational by 2014, and employ up to 300 people. . UC operates the national laboratory for the Department of Energy. An accidental release of biological agents, potentially caused by a massive earthquake, would be devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. to the nearby community of Tracy, Calif., and the nearby agricultural industry, it said. The grouping of the proposed facility in a complex that also develops nuclear weapons may be misinterpreted, Tri-Valley CARES said. "Other countries may perceive this as a move towards developing offensive U.S. biological weapons capabilities and respond by developing their own," the group said in the letter. The organization, however, may be fueling that misconception. It regularly calls the facility a "biological warfare biological warfare, employment in war of microorganisms to injure or destroy people, animals, or crops; also called germ or bacteriological warfare. Limited attempts have been made in the past to spread disease among the enemy; e.g. agent research facility" in its statements. Not so, said the lab's spokesman, Steve Wampler. It is intended to enhance and protect the nation's ability to counteract animal-to-human diseases such as anthrax and mad cow disease mad cow disease: see prion. mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include behavioral changes (e.g. and human-to-human diseases. It will not develop biological weapons, he said, and added that all laboratory structures are protected against massive earthquakes. Lawrence Livermore is one of 18 research organizations wing for the facility. Of the 18, several will be selected to continue into the next phase of the program, and the winner will be chosen in 2008, according to a DHS DHS Department of Homeland Security (USA) DHS Department of Human Services DHS Department of Health Services DHS Demographic and Health Surveys DHS Dirhams (Morocco national currency) press release. The activists and the lab have had an adversarial relationship for years. The group sued the laboratory in 2002 over concerns that it did not carry out the necessary environmental assessments on its Biosafety Level biosafety level Epidemiology A classification for the degree of caution required when working with specific groups of pathogens. See Maximum containment facility. 3 lab. Tri-Valley CARES lost that case on appeal in October. Tri-Valley CARES said a concerted campaign on the part of local citizens could sink the proposal. DHS seems to agree. It listed "community acceptance" as one of four criteria it will use to make its final selection. Email your comments to SMagnuson@ndia.org |
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