Plum Isle progress?
http://www.suffolktimes.com/stories/news2.htm
By Gwendolen Groocock
After a year of accusations, stonewalling and murky suspicion, Friday's
meeting of the Plum Island Oversight Committee and representatives of the
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) provided a breath of fresh air.
The mood was candid at the well-attended meeting, meant to be limited to
organizational issues but transformed into a wide-ranging three-hour
discussion. Plum Island officials turned up -- uninvited, they thought --
after reading of the scheduled meeting in The Suffolk Times. It turned out
that an invitation had been sent to former acting director Dr. Lee Ann
Thomas, who transferred to a new job in Washington last year, not PIADC
director Dr. David Huxsoll.
Despite some healthy give and take, oversight committee members still are
grumbling that they've been lied to, and accuse the USDA-owned island
facility of not trying very hard to be forthcoming. A public hearing on Plum
Island has been tentatively set for Feb. 7.
"When I hear on the streets they're digging up drums and having them taken
off by an environmental cleanup company, and I can't tell anyone what's going
on... the lines of communication still haven't developed, and that's
unfortunate," said Southold Town Supervisor Jean Cochran. Ms. Cochran
co-chairs the oversight committee with Assemblywoman Pat Acampora
(R-Mattituck)
."Education and understanding are extremely important," Dr. Huxsoll said
after the meeting. "I am appalled at the lack of knowledge about Plum Island.
There's no reason not to be completely open and understood. I have to work
harder.
"The oversight committee's primary concern remains the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's plan for a biosafety level 4 lab to study viruses for lethal,
incurable and possibly unknown diseases. Alarm bells rang in November, when
the committee became aware that the USDA is seeking $150 million for
construction on Plum Island.
According to the request for proposals, the project is for new level 3 labs
and animal care facilities, some "constructed to meet at a minimum BL3
standards.
"The present BL3 lab area would be demolished.
In the early 1990s, $20 million was spent renovating offices, the entrance,
conference rooms and some labs.
Dr. Huxsoll said the $150 million is not yet available and that the final
project will probably cost more. What has been authorized is $3.7 million for
the design of the new labs, he said.
Right now, the USDA is soliciting bids for design and construction work.
"For improvements? $150 million worth of improvement?" asked Jean Segall,
representing Senator Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson).
The BL3 labs were built in the 1950s, said Dr. Huxsoll, and much about how
research on animals is conducted has changed since then.
"It's reached a point where we're far better off with new construction than
repairing piecemeal," he said.
As to a BL4 lab, Dr. Huxsoll said that whatever company does the new
construction will likely be capable of planning and building a BL4 lab as
well. "If a person were to do that, it would be important to build it (BL4
capability) in from the start," he said.
A congressional mandate is needed for Plum Island to upgrade to BL4. Debbie
O'Kane of the North Fork Environmental Council said that when PIADC assistant
director Carlos Santoyo was asked whether such a mandate is being sought
along with the $150 million construction funds, he was not allowed to say.
"Interesting," commented Ms. Acampora, who awaits a response to her letter to
Dr. Huxsoll requesting copies of any studies by the USDA pertaining to the
feasibility of a BL4 lab at Plum Island. "We'll have to do some detective
work," she said.
Committee member Merlon Wiggin, a biocontainment consultant and former Plum
Island employee, proposed a list of criteria for a risk assessment study.
County Legislator Michael Caracciolo (R-Baiting Hollow), who recently formed
his own committee, also proposed a risk assessment and has secured $100,000
for that purpose.
Oversight committeee members agreed such a study could be done for much less,
especially with the cooperation of the USDA.
The process of a risk assessment study, using expert consultants, would not
only help to educate the public along the way and put fears to rest, but
could also point out weaknesses at the research center, possibly leading to
improvements, said Mr. Wiggin.
Ms. O'Kane, also a PIOC member, reported on four meetings of the USDA's
committee on the island, on which she also sits.
Observing refuse sites, she saw "huge syringes sticking out of the ground,"
she said. "I was amazed at the piles of stuff I saw all over this beautiful
island."
PI representatives explained that past policy called for no refuse to leave
the island, and to be buried on site. The syringes can be seen, they said,
because those pits are being cleaned.
Three of the 10 medical waste sites on the island have been cleaned up, said
Mark Lowery of the DEC.
According to PIADC, the standard treatment for medical waste over the years
has been to autoclave it for 16 hours, theoretically killing off all
biocontaminants.
"We have no reason to believe they deviated from the procedure," said Mr.
Lowery. Plastic items show signs of being subject to high heat, he said. "We
concluded that, no, we didn't need to test [for pathogens]. First of all,
you'd get a positive result because of soil organisms, and second, we'd
really be looking for viruses that wouldn't remain viable in the absence of
living tissue. It would be too hard.
"Plum Island no longer buries its medical waste; it is carted to Islip by a
firm qualified to handle regulated medical waste.
The issue of fire response also came up. According to PI officials, there
have been three fires in past years -- a roof fire during construction, a
grease fire in the cafeteria and a brush fire caused by a felled power line.
All were handled on-island, said Mr. Santoyo. But there's only one person on
the island at night who's trained to fight fires, and the assistance of
nearby volunteer fire departments would be needed for a major blaze.
PIADC recently bought a second fire truck, Dr. Huxsoll reported.
As for the Vermont sheep suspected of being infected with prion disease, two
flocks are still awaiting "disposal." Tissue samples from a destroyed flock
were taken to Plum Island.
In this country, there's a growing concern that prions that can cause mad cow
disease and its human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Eight patients may
have contracted C-J in October at Tulane University Medical Center in New
Orleans, when surgical instruments were used on them after being used on a
patient with the disease who died following brain surgery. Normal
sterilization procedures were reportedly followed and when it was discovered
that the instruments might be contaminated with prions, they were destroyed.
The eight patients are being monitored.
The DEC is taking the prion threat seriously, said Mr. Lowery. A task force
is traveling to England next week to learn more about how prion-infected
material is handled. Heat and burning alone aren't sufficient; what's left
after incineration must be put into "digesting vats" of caustic soda.
"I don't see how you can make anything more dead," remarked Dr. Huxsoll of
the procedure.
The UK has been dealing with mad cow disease for nearly two decades, and it
has been discovered recently in several other European countries.
Mr. Lowery also reported that the autoclaves on Plum Island have passed
inspections to determine if they sterilize material sufficiently to be
considered municipal solid waste (MSW). The center now will get DEC permits
to run two of its incinerators under the guidelines for the treatment of MSW.
But it won't be allowed to run two others as crematoria, where guidelines
allow only 5% of the total load to be infectious waste. The PIADC had sought
to avoid spending about $3 million to upgrade its incinerators with chemical
scrubbers, but the DEC will require it, said Mr. Lowery. The USDA has 30 days
to develop a plan to convert to the higher standards for infectious waste
incinerators.
Plans to remediate two petroleum spills on Plum Island also have been
approved by the DEC.
The cleaning of toxic PCBs from a wastewater lagoon is complete. About
524,000 gallons of contaminated water was removed, cleaned and chlorinated to
discharge standards, then released into the sea, said Mr. Lowery. The sludge
pit, which is about 80 feet from a natural wetland, will be naturalized.
Now that Southold Trustee jurisdiction extends to 100 feet from the water,
the Plum Island project requires a town permit, pointed out Trustee Ken
Poliwoda.
Plum Island should go through the permit process as a show of good faith,
suggested Riverhead representative Joey Mac Lellan.
Also in attendance were representatives of Southampton and Shelter Island.
PIOC members said afterwards they are pleased that awareness of the need for
answers about operations on Plum Island is spreading on the East End.
