As I've said to people looking for links among Plum Island, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus, during my seven years of research I did not happen upon an octogenarian scientist hobbling out from behind a white curtain, exclaiming, "It was me! I did it! I spawned Lyme disease at Plum Island!"
And yet, there's still an unexplained initial outbreak of Lyme disease occurring nine miles away from an exotic germ laboratory with quarter-inch holes in its roof — a lab busy breeding hundreds of thousands of ticks including a tick known to spread Lyme disease with African Swine fever virus cross-contaminated with who knows what — that is worthy of a real, scientific investigation. And a little-known outbreak of West Nile virus, that killed horses on the doorstep of Plum Island weeks before humans first contracted the illness many miles away in New York City in August of 1999, also deserves a real, scientific investigation.
Bradway then concludes, "There is no scientific merit to any of these theories." He is right in a sense — there is no scientific merit to them— because they have never been investigated by his esteemed brethren, which is the same reason he has no basis to call them conspiracies. Is it logical to conclude that something didn't cause an event because it hasn't been investigated? If that is Bradway's brand of science, then I'm honored to wear his badge of "non-scientist author." It's strange that someone who spent such a brief time on Plum Island can post such an elaborate defense of an ill-maintained laboratory that doesn't have one.
Speaking of Lyme disease, a letter that a reader wrote struck a deep chord in me. Those who brush aside any possible connection without giving so much as lip service to conducting an appropriate scientific investigation should take his impassioned opinion to heart:
Fellow Lymies:
I usually don't post messages, but have replied to many of you privately. In this case, It's too important to stay quiet. Yes, Tim, Lyme disease has been around longer than Plum Island. But not in this form — not doing the things it does to our bodies, our central nervous system, our minds. We are the last people who should dismiss this book for this simple reason: I don't want an apology, I don't care about holding people accountable and the outrage of it all, if it's true… But if it is true, someone might know something that could help us.
Aren't you all tired of this disease that is killing us? Are you just a little sick of being on 12 meds which almost cover 40 percent of the symptoms? Have you ever said to yourself, "God, this disease is so unnatural?"
I don't mean to be strident, but look, just the fact that the American Lyme Disease Foundation came out publicly dismissing this book was a big clue for me. In seven plus years of reading about Lyme disease, almost every statement I've ever read from the ALDF is, in my opinion, against patient interest. I would encourage every one of you to get this book and read it. Here is someone who doesn't even have the disease and who, if nothing else, points out the sheer horror of the experience. Bravo for Michael Carroll, and trust me, if you read the book there is no way you can say, "Aw, I don't buy it." On the Today show, they discussed how while they were hosting a tick colony, right across the water from old Lyme, Connecticut, there were holes in the ceiling. Maybe one or two of those 400,000 ticks got out.
Let me make this really clear: I was a healthy guy, a 35-year-old television executive making big money and knowing big people and just starting to get the payoff of 20 years of hard, hard work when this stuff came in and BOOM! It took away my life; it took away my ability to make money, my health, my sex drive, my energy (which used to fuel me through 15-hour shoot days on rigorous television production schedules). I can't make plans, can't get to church….
I was invited to go see a member of Congress a few months ago, and I was too sick to go. Too sick to go talk about being too sick… Michael Carroll has taken all of us one step closer to getting the attention, the care, and the respect that we deserve.
Okay, that's all I can say, I've got to go and lie down.
I wonder if the message of Lab 257 gets drowned in its "parade of horribles." Perhaps people believe that because there is such a lengthy trail of misdeeds, it is impossible to start fixing Plum Island. Or that speaking out about this island is a futile exercise, and that its problems are insurmountable. Allow me to outline four straightforward issues to be addressed, and how to get our leaders to take them seriously and tackle them.
FIRST: Re-establish the thirty-four-man armed guard patrol that protected Plum Island in the 1950s, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Stop cold comforting the public with a nine-to-five security patrol, because it's not going to stop a terrorist who attacks outside of business hours. Re-establish the Plum Island Fire Department and disband the volunteer bucket bridge of untrained scientists and support workers.
SECOND: Transport the exotic germs that arrive from international airports to Plum Island, that regularly travel along local roads of New York and Connecticut, only by armed courier. Emergency first responders must be notified of each trip to respond to a biological accident or ambush.
THIRD: Lockdown Plum Island airspace from all air traffic and enforce a no-fly zone with the national guard aircraft that are stationed nearby.
FOURTH: Un-privatize the Plum Island support staff, and reestablish full federal control of the island. Plum Island's sister laboratory in Ames, Iowa holds far less dangerous germs and it has never been privatized, like Plum Island has with a shoestring private contractor that received special prefer-ences — not because it did good work, but because it was owned by an Alaskan Eskimo tribe (yes this is true).
By no means is this list exhaustive, but it is bite-sized and ready for spoon-feeding to anyone who will listen.
I'm often asked by readers, "What can I do to help fix Plum Island?" I suggest first that people tell their friends, family, and neighbors about this precarious island. All the information needed is between these covers and on my website, www.lab257.com. Then, grab a phone book and call your local, state, and federal elected officials, and demand action, for starters, on the four points above. Ask them why they aren't informing the public about the dangers of Plum Island and more importantly, doing something about it. Failing that, contact the news media and urge them to report on Plum Island to raise public awareness. Finally, it is said that the pen is mightier than the sword — draft a letter to the editor to be included in your town's local newspaper or church bulletin. No publication is too small to get the word out. The more people who know about Plum Island, the better. The more voices that are raised, the greater likelihood of success there will be in eliminating America's softest terrorism target. The demands of ordinary citizens like you appears to be the only recourse left to get Plum Island appropriately cleaned up or permanently shut down.
If you have other ideas on how to redress the situation, I want to hear about them. Write me at lab257@att.net, and let's work together to reveal to the citizenry a Plum Island that, for all the empty political talk and pretty window dressing, remains a biological ticking time bomb.