There is mounting concern that the federal funding for the National Bio-Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) in Kansas may be in jeopardy due to some unfounded fears and political gamesmanship in D.C. The Chamber urges area businesses to support this vital project to bring new high-paying jobs to Kansas and Missouri and make their support for NBAF in Kansas known.
The United States in not fully prepared for many of the natural and deliberate threats to its food supply, agricultural economy, and public health posed by dangerous foreign animal diseases. This is why President
Barak Obama, many Kansas and Missouri members of congress, the Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Agriculture are committed to building a National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.
Modern research methods and facilities are urgently needed, and NBAF will be built to the highest safety standards...standards that already keep tens of millions of U.S. residents safe in places where labs are currently studying the most highly hazardous human infectious diseases, without a single outbreak having occurred.
How you can help:
We need to apply pressure locally, regionally and nationally on key House leaders to urge their support for the President's budget request and Senate position. Calling our delegation is very helpful, but calling House Homeland Security Appropriations chairman David Price (D-NC) is critical, 202-225-1784.
Please urge the following points:
Protecting people and animals (a food supply) from disease through NBAF is vital to our national security and to the safety and security of our communities; NBAF is safe with modern research methods and the highest safety standards in the world; NBAF is vital to the heartland economy, offering unprecedented opportunities for high quality and high paying jobs throughout the region; and The current bio-agro facilities on Plum Island are out of date and near the end of their life cycle. The U.S. needs a new facility built to the highest safety standards as planned with NBAF.