New UK animal disease lab?

The "shabby and dilapidated" animal disease research laboratory in Pilbright, UK — the site of last summer's linkurl:foot-and-mouth disease;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53579/ leak — must be replaced by a new, expanded research center for infectious human and animal diseases, an official report said yesterday. The independent inquiry into last summer's outbreak in southeast England said that a "creeping degradation of standards" at the government-funded linkurl:Institut

Written byElie Dolgin
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share
The "shabby and dilapidated" animal disease research laboratory in Pilbright, UK — the site of last summer's linkurl:foot-and-mouth disease;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53579/ leak — must be replaced by a new, expanded research center for infectious human and animal diseases, an official report said yesterday. The independent inquiry into last summer's outbreak in southeast England said that a "creeping degradation of standards" at the government-funded linkurl:Institute of Animal Health;http://www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk/ probably led to a live virus, under development as a linkurl:vaccine,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/19550/ leaking from a fractured pipe and spreading from the site. The outbreak resulted in an export ban on British livestock that cost the industry an estimated $200m. The report, Foot and Mouth Disease 2007, described the leak as "an avoidable event... that should never have happened." "The structural and management inadequacies at and around Pilbright must be addressed urgently and comprehensively," Iain Anderson, a businessman and former government adviser who led the inquiry, told linkurl:The Daily Telegraph.;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/03/11/eadefra411.xml He blamed an ineffective patchwork of multi-agency regulation for the leak and called on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to take sole responsibility for a new National Institute of Infectious Diseases, which would replace the current Institute of Animal Health. No major leaks have occurred from animal research laboratories in the US, but the Department of Homeland Security is planning a new linkurl:National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23091/ to replace the 55-year old Plum Island Animal Disease Center on Long Island, New York.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Share
Image of a woman with her hands across her stomach. She has a look of discomfort on her face. There is a blown up image of her stomach next to her and it has colorful butterflies and gut bacteria all swarming within the gut.
November 2025, Issue 1

Why Do We Feel Butterflies in the Stomach?

These fluttering sensations are the brain’s reaction to certain emotions, which can be amplified or soothed by the gut’s own “bugs".

View this Issue
Olga Anczukow and Ryan Englander discuss how transcriptome splicing affects immune system function in lung cancer.

Long-Read RNA Sequencing Reveals a Regulatory Role for Splicing in Immunotherapy Responses

Pacific Biosciences logo
Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Conceptual cartoon image of gene editing technology

Exploring the State of the Art in Gene Editing Techniques

Bio-Rad
Conceptual image of a doctor holding a brain puzzle, representing Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.

Simplifying Early Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis with Blood Testing

fujirebio logo

Products

Eppendorf Logo

Research on rewiring neural circuit in fruit flies wins 2025 Eppendorf & Science Prize

Evident Logo

EVIDENT's New FLUOVIEW FV5000 Redefines the Boundaries of Confocal and Multiphoton Imaging

Evident Logo

EVIDENT Launches Sixth Annual Image of the Year Contest

10x Genomics Logo

10x Genomics Launches the Next Generation of Chromium Flex to Empower Scientists to Massively Scale Single Cell Research