Plum Island Animal Disease Center serves as the United States’ number one defense against, accidental or deliberate, outbreaks of Foreign Animal Diseases (FAD).
Brief History of Plum Island
The Montaukett tribe were the original inhabitants of Plum Island. In 1659, they sold it to an Englishman. For the next 250 years, it was the home to farms and even served as an escape from New York City for wealthy families. Its strategic location just off Orient Point on Long Island made it an attractive command post for the military, thus Fort Terry was opened there in 1897. It was used through the end of World War II in 1952. Fort Terry was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Rumors and conspiracy theories about what actually happens on Plum Island have circulated for years.
​
People have tried to link the site to germ warfare and anthrax.
​
Its proximity to Lyme, CT has many convinced that Lyme’s disease was actually a product of the lab.
Residents of Montauk, NY which is very close to Plum Island swear that an animal/human hybrid washed up on their shores in 2008 and dubbed it the Montauk Monster.
Nelson DeMille even wrote a book, Plum Island, published in 1997 that feeds off some of these conspiracy theories. It’s a mystery that seeks to solve the murder of two employees of the PIADC and their connection to biological warfare research. Though the novel is a work of fiction, in 1993, a reporter for the Newsday unearthed previously classified Army Corps documents proving that the United States had conducted experiments that were considered biological warfare research. The government claims that this research was halted before the PIADC was established.
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC)
Plum Island Animal Disease Center was opened in 1954. The lab and its staff of nearly 400 employees provide a host of high-impact, indispensable preparedness and response capabilities, including vaccine research and development, diagnostics, training, and bioforensics among others (DHS, 2023). The PIADC studies many FADs, but their work is mainly focused on Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Africa Swine Fever. It is the only lab in the United States that is permitted to work with live FMD virus. There are 7 strains of the FMD virus and each requires a separate vaccination.
The work done is globally important, and for this reason PIADC scientists do not conduct classified research. Their work is unique and highly specialized. It is because of this that the United States not only shares their findings, it also educates vets and officials all over the world.
Due to the nature of the work performed at PIADC, extraordinary security and safety measures are required. Plum Island is close to the shoreline in Connecticut and Orient Point, NY. Each day its 400 workers arrive on the island via ferry. Safety protocols require that employees change their clothes before entering biocontainment labs, and to remove them and shower upon leaving these areas. They even have to agree to a period of Personal Recognizant Quarantine, which requires them to avoid certain animal species for a period of time before arriving and after leaving the facility.
The PIADC has been identified as a potential target for terrorists so the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Office of National Laboratories (ONL) took over operation of the site in 2003 and manages it in conjunction with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In a letter to Congress in 2007, Lisa Shames, Director of Natural Resources and Environment, outlined security deficiencies at Plum Island that had been raised as early as 2003, that still had not been addressed and still posed significant risks. In 2008, Congress recognized the growing needs for veterinary countermeasures to protect the US’s agricultural sector. Referencing the security concerns, the aging facility, and the need for additional space to build a Biosafety Level 4 facility, a decision was made to construct a new National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. Though the plant has been completed, it will take several years to fully transfer operations to the new facility.
​
The fate of Plum Island has been the subject of much debate. Legislation at the time would have required that Plum Island be sold and the proceeds used to offset the costs of building the new facility. A regional group, Save the Sound, successfully led the legal effort to get the legislation repealed and a group called the Plum Island Preservation Coalition advocated to get it turned into a National Wildlife Refuge. However, in 2013 the USDA and DHS, once again, announced plans to sell the island to the private sector. More environmental groups formed and expressed outrage. Finally, in December 2020, Congress voted to block the planned sale of Plum Island.
120 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE COME TOGETHER TO FORM
THE PRESERVE PLUM ISLAND COALITION
to protect and preserve the
-
Largest seal haul-out in New York
-
Habitat for 228 bird species - nearly a quarter of the bird species found in North America
-
Significant ecological sites
-
Over a dozen rare plant species
-
Rich fish population
-
Fort Terry, a National Register Historic Site
-
Plum Island Lighthouse, a National Register Historic Site
The New York Natural Heritage Program refers to it as
Treasure Island​