Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 2/22/11

The budget Barack Obama submitted to Congress earlier this week includes $150 million for a new bio-security lab, the Kansas City Star reported.

The new facility, set to be built on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan, Kansas, would study animal diseases (such as African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease) and the risks they pose to public health.

The lab, which would be built next to the existing Biosecurity Research Institute at KSU, is currently set to open in 2018.

The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility will be run by the Department of Homeland Security, along with the USDA. The $650 million lab would replace the existing Plum Island, N.Y., lab.

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