 PIADC logo | |
 Buildings 100 and 101 at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center | |
| Established | 1954 |
|---|---|
| Budget | $16.5 million |
Field of research | Foreign animal diseases |
| Director | Larry Barrett |
| Location | Plum Island, New York, U.S. 41°10′44″N 72°12′20″W / 41.178889°N 72.205556°W |
| 11957 | |
Operating agency | United States Department of Homeland Security |
| Website | DHS site |
| Map | |
  Location in Long Island | |
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases of livestock. It is a national laboratory of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Directorate for Science and Technology (S&T), and operates as a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).[1] The facility's director is Larry Barrett.[2]
Isolated on Plum Island off the eastern tip of Long Island, New York, the center has been tasked with protecting America's livestock from animal diseases since 1954. It is the only facility in the country authorized to work with live foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) samples, and specializes in the study of FMD and African swine fever.[3] At the height of the Cold War, study of biological weapons for use against livestock was conducted at the site, ending in 1969 when President Nixon declared an end to the United States' offensive bioweapons program. Today the facility maintains laboratories up to biosafety level 3, and has remained controversial as a result of its high-risk work and proximity to the New York metropolitan area.
The facility is slated for closure in 2024[citation needed], with work moving to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility under construction in Manhattan, Kansas.
- ^ "PIADC Fact Sheet" (PDF). Department of Homeland Security.
- ^ "Inside the mysterious Plum Island Animal Disease Center". NBC4 WCMH-TV. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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