By Kevin Murphy
KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - The United States should consider scaling down ambitious plans for a $1 billion laboratory in Kansas to study potentially deadly animal diseases, the National Research Council said on Friday in a key report to help the government decide how to proceed.
Construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas has been stalled by concerns that deadly animal diseases could escape and devastate agriculture, and criticism of it as a costly boondoggle.
The Department of Homeland Security asked the research council - which is part of the National Academy of Sciences - to study three options for the facility. They were to proceed with the Kansas plant, scale it back, or retain the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center off Long Island, New York.
The advisory panel did not recommend any of three options but wrote favorably of scaling back the Kansas plant.
Putting all the functions in the Kansas lab is potentially "a duplication of resources," the panel said in the 138-page report issued at noon Friday.
"A central laboratory would be a key part of an integrated national system but it would only be one component," the report said.
The facility in Kansas would replace Plum Island, which Homeland Security says no longer meets U.S. research requirements to develop treatments for disease outbreaks. Plum Island has "Level 3" labs to study animal-borne diseases but does not have space for more secure "Level 4" to study large animal diseases that can spread to humans, according to Homeland Security.
The advisory panel said the Kansas facility would avoid the need to move specimens and other materials from place to place.
But there are drawbacks to the Kansas proposal, including steadily rising estimated costs, the panel said. A smaller building would cut construction and maintenance costs while still housing a "Level 4" lab, the panel said.
Plans for the facility have raised concerns about security because Manhattan, Kansas is in the middle of so-called "Tornado Alley." Some critics say a large tornado could damage the building and allow diseases to escape. The government has proposed reinforcing the building but that has raised the estimated price tag to $1 billion.
Some members of Congress have proposed slashing funding for the program at a time when the U.S. government is running enormous budget deficits.
(This version of the story was corrected to inserts 'not' in seventh paragraph)
(Editing by Greg McCune)
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