(1) The Federal Government, through grants provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has invested more than $250,000,000 in the construction of regional biocontainment laboratories (RBLs), a network of 13 university-based Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) laboratories. Individual university grant recipients have provided additional private matching funds to construct these facilities.
(2) These laboratories were established to fulfill 2 functions essential to the Nation’s biodefense strategy:
(A) To support research for the development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for emerging infections and biological threats.
(B) To provide surge capacity in support of a public emergency response to acts of bioterrorism and outbreaks of infectious disease.
(3) While the Federal Government has provided support for the construction of these facilities, it has not to date provided the operational support required by these laboratories to fulfill their Federal surge capacity mission.
(4) Recent bioterrorism exercises conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have demonstrated that the Federal Government may not have sufficient laboratory surge capacity to adequately respond to a large scale bioterrorism event.
(5) Once fully operational, the network of RBLs will be able to collectively provide more than 52,000 square feet of laboratory space within a relatively short period of a declared national bioterror or pandemic emergency.
(6) In addition, the RBL network will be able to collectively provide the services of nearly 500 trained personnel, of which more than 230 will have Department of Justice clearance.
(7) Each of the RBLs has highly trained and specialized personnel capable of handling select agent pathogens and conducting diagnostic testing, in a secure BSL3 setting that can be ‘locked down’ rapidly and discreetly during an act of bioterrorism. Each facility can maintain ‘chain of custody’ requirements for specimen processing.
(8) All of the RBL facilities were designed with multiple laboratory suites, so that each can handle multiple airborne pathogens simultaneously without the risk for cross-contamination. Additionally, the RBLs can support critical threat assessment research through the combined strengths of some of the world’s leading bioterrorism research experts and the development of diverse animal models.
(9) The House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee recognized the multi-agency potential of the RBLs by including report language in its fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill calling on the Department of Homeland Security to ‘leverage the Federal investment in these facilities’.
(10) The Federal Government, through the Department of Homeland Security, should provide funding for the RBL network to preserve this critical homeland security asset and ensure that the Nation has the surge capacity needed to adequately respond to acts of bioterrorism and pandemics.
U.S. Congress - Text of H.R.7041 as Introduced in House Laboratory Surge Capacity Preparedness Act
