Why has nothing been learned from 9/11, anthrax, ricin, West Nile virus, SARS, and bird flu? Why ignore the fact that most new human viruses come from animals and become more deadly when they jump species?
Why do we have to wait until after terrorism, accidents, or naturally occurring dangers create widespread epidemics from Plum Island? Why is there not an outrage from the public, the media, and politicians? And most of all, why are government officials doing nothing but stubbornly defending their unconvincing assurances of safety?
Or this letter, that appeared in a local paper close to Plum Island in late August 2004, which also went further than I did and suggested a solution:
It never ceases to amaze me that for as long as Plum Island has been in existence, we are still talking about breaches of security and safety. What will it take before it is realized that this facility should be close down permanently?.. Just ask your local police and fire departments how much training they have received in the event of an accident at Plum Island.
One cannot live too far from this facility. I have little confidence that we are told all there is to know about what kind of activity truly goes on there and certainly have no confidence in the security. We should be fearful of what we don't know about what goes on there: how often security is breached, and how much of that ends up on our trees, fruits, vegetables, and drinking water… Plum Island has outlived its usefulness.
In my defense to these justifiably enraged citizens' viewpoints, I can only say my goal was to present the evidence best I could, and let the reader decide whether the rewards justify the risks.
Some of the island's scientists quietly acknowledged their agreement with the concerns raised in the book. Other Plum Island veterans were openly hostile to me. Merlon Wiggin stood up at a public forum, waived his copy of Lab 257 riddled with Post-it notes in the air, and boldly accused me of fabricating direct quotes attributed to him over multiple pages. When I politely reminded him before the assembled crowd that I had talked to him on the phone multiple times, received faxes from him, and spent hours at his East Marion home interviewing him with a tape recorder, he didn't want to hear anything of it. Also at that forum, Dr. Carol House sharply criticized my book, but later admitted she hadn't read it because she heard it was "no good." Finally, I read in a newspaper that Ben Robins, who took me on the "jungle tour" though Plum Island, recently unsheathed his fountain pen and wrote "Blab 257," which I look forward to reading with great anticipation, should he send me a copy of his tome.
All foolishness aside, two groups remain painfully silent: the current scientists of Plum Island and our elected leaders. It is my opinion that the former group remains mired in bureaucratic inertia and the latter find Plum Island to be an issue far too difficult to tackle because it cannot be dispensed in the twenty-four-hour news cycle to score political points. Instead, they continue to ignore the imminent threat of this book's subject. Instead, we continue to get more of the same — pretty glossy photo ops, beat-the-drum press releases, and letters crammed with prattle — and nothing changes at one of the most inviting biological soft targets in the nation. I did get an inquiry from the office of Congressman Dan Burton, who sits on the House Government Reform Committee and is known to take on tough issues, but that went nowhere. Of all municipalities adjacent to Plum Island, not one of them asked me to brief them. But members of the Boston City Council invited me to talk about the mistakes made on Plum Island, as Boston University is considering establishing a similar laboratory. Finally, New York Senator Michael Balboni, the chair of his state's homeland security committee, asked me to brief him before he made an inspection of Plum Island.
Sadly then, the book has largely fallen upon deaf governmental ears. As I write this, Plum Island has suffered yet another germ outbreak, a cross-contamination episode inside the laboratory on the eve of its fiftieth anniversary gala that the USDA planned for itself. Instead of spoiling the party, the scientists of Plum Island thought it better to conceal the laboratory accident; only after four weeks did they inform Senator Clinton, the local congressman, and members of a "community forum," who themselves practiced non-disclosure until an anonymous tip reached the ears of News-day investigative reporter Bill Bleyer. Apparently this modus operandi at Plum Island. All this writer can do is detail the recent gaffes and phony window dressing designed to quash public inquiry in this laboratory's conduct, and hope that perhaps this book will one day fall into the laps of someone who can make a real difference. I had expected real change would have been the norm out there by now. But my expectations have gone unanswered— and we remain at risk.
One of the things that can be fairly said about Lab 257 is that it is historical. It only speaks as of late 2003 when I delivered the final manuscript. A reader might be thinking that a good amount of time has passed for the material to be digested and addressed. Rather than simply state that is not the case, I'll show through Plum Island's own words and deeds.
We're equally proud of our safety record…. Not once in our nearly 50 years of operation has an animal pathogen escaped from the island.
— HOME PAGE OF PLUM ISLAND WEBSITE
If you haven't skipped to the end of the book, then you are likely shocked at the sheer hubris of this statement. Let's look at the first sentence. Proud? How on Earth can Plum Island scientists be "proud" of a safety record that boasts germ outbreaks, injured lab workers, and literally hundreds of federal environmental and occupational safety hazard law violations? The second statement is reminiscent of another brassy statement: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky," i.e., a statement of legal technicality. Until we have a comprehensive scientific investigation, we cannot ever know if Lyme disease, West Nile virus, or the Dutch duck plague virus is connected to Plum Island. But, we do know, from their own rare admission that on at least one occasion, germs did escape the "World's Safest Lab" and infected healthy animals outdoors on Plum Island. We know this only because it was impossible to conceal, because every person had to be evacuated from Plum Island in a spacesuit, and because every animal — healthy or infected — was ordered to be killed. The fact that the outbreak didn't "escape the island" obscures the fact that they had a massive germ outbreak, yet they don't get into such little detail on their website. It's up to the public, now armed with the truth, to call Plum Island on it. Finally, they are again stressing they work only with "animal pathogens," and have repeatedly taken pains to note they work on diseases affecting animals. Another half-truth. Anthrax, West Nile virus, and the deadly Rift Valley fever virus described in this book may be strictly classified as "animal diseases" in the eyes of Plum Island scientists, but they ought not use this as a PR smoke screen when explaining their work to the public. Those diseases are deadly to humans, and it is incumbent upon them to disclose that to the public.
In July 2004 the Department of Homeland Security finally decided it was time to deploy federal armed guards on Plum Island. As if on cue, the public was treated to another press release, this time from Congressman Timothy Bishop, who succeeds a line of one- and two-term congressmen in the district that includes Plum Island. "We all recognized that unarmed guards alone are not an adequate defense in the face of an attack," said Bishop. "I applaud the Department of Homeland Security." But, the guards are a mere window dressing. The guards are only to be stationed on Plum Island during business hours — as if terrorists only attack nine to five. This book detailed the reputed terrorist, a disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist who met with Osama bin Laden multiple times, who was caught in Afghanistan with a dossier on Plum Island — and a part-time placement of guards on Plum Island is "applauded" by the local congressman? Caught in the milieu then: absentee elected officials and USDA scientists, a faulty laboratory researching dangerous germs (and a terrorist target), and us.