[CPEO-MEF] Rome crowd backs bio-defense lab plan

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New York
Rome crowd backs bio-defense lab plan
Griffiss in running for national-level facility
Fri, Feb 7, 2003
By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

More than 200 people crowded into the Strough Middle School cafeteria
Thursday to hear top state health department officials explain plans to
put a national vaccine research and development laboratory at the former
Griffiss Air Force Base.

The National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, a branch of
the National Institutes of Health, has requested proposals for two new
bio-defense labs "to conduct research on pathogens that ... pose the
greatest risks to civilian populations in the event of a bioterrorist
attack," the institute said.

Such a lab at Griffiss Business and Technology Park could mean 300 new
jobs for Rome.

The prospect of dozens of scientists working with bacteria and viruses
ranging from smallpox to Ebola didn't dampen Romans' enthusiasm for the
proposal.

"You're offering us something phenomenal," Rome Realtor Mark Malorzo
said. "It's exciting. It's necessary. Why not Rome?"

He said, "Is there a risk? Every time you walk out your door, it's a
risk."

The institute said that national security demands more research to
identify biological threats and to develop vaccines and therapeutic
drugs, but there aren't enough top-level laboratories available to do
the work.

A new facility at the Griffiss park could bring to the community the
kind of prosperity that the Air Force brought for more than a half
century before the Air Force base closed in 1995, some speakers said
Thursday.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.uticaod.com/archive/2003/02/07/news/15990.html

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