1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbam here. For years, plenty of wild rumors and 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: fringe theories have swirled around an island the size of 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: New York Central Park that rests a mile and a 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: half about two and a half kilometers off of Long Island. 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: Plumb Island is home to a high security federal research 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: facility that Internet fueled urban legends have made into the 8 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: East Coast's equivalent of Area fifty one. Some have speculated 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: that animal human hybrids and biological warfare weapons are being 10 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: developed inside the Plumb Island Animal Disease Center, opened by 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: the U. S Department of Agriculture in the nineteen fifties 12 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: and under the control of the U. S. Department of 13 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: Homeland Security since two thousand three. John Verrico, a spokesman 14 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: for Homeland Securities Science and Technology Directorate, said, I've had 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: questions about Nazi scientists, alien technology, and genetically modified monsters. 16 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: But inside these security fences and bio containment area checkpoints 17 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: described in the unredacted parts of a two thousand seven 18 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: government report, government researchers work to stave off more tangible 19 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: threats foreign animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease 20 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: and African swine fever, which have the potential to wreak 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: havoc with the u S food supply if they ever 22 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: spread across the nation's farms. In the US, which hasn't 23 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: had an outbreak of foot and mouth disease since nineteen 24 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: twenty nine, an outbreak of the highly contagious affliction could 25 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: cause billions and billions of dollars in economic losses. Verka 26 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: says because infected farm animals would have to be culled 27 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: from the herds and destroyed, meat exports would come to 28 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: a halt until the disease was eradicated, and consumers might 29 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: face shortages of meat and dairy products. Farmers who produce 30 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: animal feed would be harmed as well. A two one 31 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: outbreak in the UK cost the nation the equivalent of 32 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: more than ten billion dollars. That long standing danger led 33 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: Congress to authorize the Department of Agriculture to create a 34 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: laboratory to fight animal diseases back in the nineteen fifties, 35 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: with one major condition. The facility had to be located 36 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: on an island to reduce the danger of pathogens or 37 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: infected animals. Escaping and spreading to farms. Plumb Island, the 38 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: site of the U. S Armies Fort Terry from eighteen 39 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: seventy nine to night, fit that criteria. A nineteen seventy 40 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: one New York Times article described the facility as a 41 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: devil's island for the deadliest animal disease germs known to man, 42 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: and described the elaborate security measures. Those included round the 43 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: clock patrols along the island's perimeter intended to warn away 44 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: voters who might be attracted by the pristine beaches, buildings 45 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: with airlocks to keep bacteria and viruses from escaping, and 46 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: holding tanks to sterilize the waste water from mandatory showers 47 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: taken by staffers before leaving at the end of the 48 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: work day. In part because of the risk of a 49 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: terrorist attack on the facility, in two thousand three, it 50 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security, although agriculture 51 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: researchers continue to work there with additional measures such as 52 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: door sensors and alarms. And it's not for nothing. An 53 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: Al Qaeda operative who was arrested in two thousand eight 54 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: in Afghanistan had a handwritten list of various potential targets 55 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: in the US that in aluded Plumb Island. Despite all 56 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: the security measures, the Plumb Island Facility doesn't work in secrecy, 57 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: Verico said, we actually don't do any classified work at all. 58 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: Our scientists published reports on everything we do. Plumb Island 59 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: houses the only Foot and Mouth disease vaccine bank in 60 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: North America, which maintains and regularly updates a variety of 61 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: vaccines that have been developed to combat the more than 62 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: sixty different strains of the disease. Those vaccines could be 63 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: deployed in the event that the disease began to spread 64 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: in the US, Canada, or Mexico. Additionally, if an animal 65 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: becomes sick and develops suspicious lesions or other possible signs 66 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: of the disease, tissue samples can be sent to Plumb 67 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: Island for analysis, and veterinarians come to Plumb Island for training. 68 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: Work at the facility was instrumental in the conquest of 69 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: render pest, a deadly cattle disease that is one of 70 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: the only two diseases smallpox being the other that have 71 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: been totally eradicated. Although the Plumb Island Facility and its 72 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: four hundred person workforce have been an important part of 73 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: the nation's defense is against animal diseases for decades. It's 74 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: scheduled to shut down by approximately It gradually will be 75 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: replaced by the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility, at 76 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: one point to five billion dollar project under construction in Manhattan, Kansas. 77 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: That facility will be larger than Plum Island and be 78 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: able to conduct more studies simultaneously. It will also have 79 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: added layers of security to enable it to function as 80 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: a level for laboratory, meaning that it will be able 81 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: to study animal diseases that have the potential to be 82 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: transmitted to humans. It will be the first large animal 83 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: facility capable of such research advances, and security measures will 84 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: make it unnecessary for it to be located off shore. 85 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: What will happen to Plum Island after the Animal Disease 86 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: Center shuts down isn't yet clear. The U. S. General 87 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: Services Administration already has advertised the island in its buildings 88 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: for sale, in keeping with provision tucked into the two 89 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,359 Speaker 1: thousand nine economic stimulus package that requires it to be 90 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: auctioned off to defray the construction cost of the Kansas 91 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,239 Speaker 1: facility and or Homeland securities new headquarters complex, but local 92 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: environmentalists don't want to see Plum Island turned into a 93 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: waterfront housing development or golf resort. Because the island has 94 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: been off limits to development for so many years, much 95 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: of it has reverted to its natural state and has 96 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 1: become a refuge for birds and animals. A group of 97 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: environmental organizations in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, called 98 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, advocates setting aside eight percent 99 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: of the island as a preserve in the winters. For example, 100 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: Plum Island is a haven for six hundred harbor and 101 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: gray seals who migrate from Canada to forge for food there. 102 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: It also provides habitat for aviate species such as the 103 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: piping plover and rosy it turn. After all, the security 104 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: measures are meant to keep humans off the island, and 105 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: keeping humans away is usually good news for animal populations. 106 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in twixteen seeking to prevent 107 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: the government from going ahead with the sale on the 108 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: grounds that it hadn't complied with requirements of various federal 109 00:05:55,839 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: environmental laws. After the General Services Administration unsuccessfully sought to 110 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: get the suit dismissed. The agency announced in August that 111 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: it would hold off on the sale in order to 112 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: prepare for a new environmental impact statement to augment a 113 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: previous review that environmentalists had deemed inadequate. Today's episode was 114 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: written by Patrick J. Tiger and produced by Tyler Clang 115 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,039 Speaker 1: for iHeartMedia and How Stuff Works. For bondness and lots 116 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: of other plum topics, visit our home planet, how stuff 117 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: works dot com.