Background
The NBAF was initially proposed because the current facility on Plum Island was considered inadequate by the Department of Homeland Security, as the facility is too small and does not have Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) capabilities.
The new facility will research and develop countermeasures to combat high-consequence biological threats involving human, zoonotic (i.e., transmitted from animals to humans), and foreign animal diseases. Included among the diseases to be studied at the research lab are: Foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, African swine fever and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia. Approximately 10% of the facility will be used for BSL-4 level research.
Read more about this topic: National Bio And Agro-Defense Facility
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