Book Review: Lab 257 by Michael Carroll

Conspiracy theorists like to imagine that the government is operated by shadowy figures who fly black helicopters, not to mention maliciously deranged madmen who manipulate ordinary citizens like herded cattle and gleefully test dangerous biological weapons on unsuspecting populations. Michael Carroll's book Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory, which was recently released in paperback, suggests a far more dangerous reality: a government run by incompetent, self-aggrandizing politicians where bureaucracy undercuts logic and the population is at risk more because of shoddy attention to detail or neglect rather than overt malice.

As Carroll documents, the U.S. has operated an "animal disease center" on Plum Island, just off the coast of New York's Long Island, for over fifty years. Despite its rather innocuous name, Plum Island is home to some of the most dangerous, deadly viruses on the planet. Started by the Army as a facility to study germ warfare directed at animals and food supplies (both in a defensive and offensive manner), control of the lab passed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has often been at the forefront of the study of bacteria and disease which affects animals (but which can also on occasion be passed to humans). From African swine fever, Rift Valley fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and the West Nile virus, Plum Island examines and tests a host of deadly diseases.

Carroll has indicated that he has little interest in seeing the facility shut down, and acknowledges at several points during the book that the lab was an integral part of the development of vaccines for a variety of dangerous, life-threatening viruses. At the same time, however, he is incredibly troubled by the facility's apparent history of mismanagement and neglect, which has had the possibility for horrific outbreaks of disease. From poor construction to faulty power lines and incinerators and vents which apparently don't contain airflow as they should, he documents a litany of problems that could have threatened the lives of millions of Americans.

The island - which can be found on few maps - is only 2 miles from Long Island, and 85 miles from New York. Carroll's seven years of research into the island and its history causes him to sketch together a compelling argument that the introduction of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and duck enteritis may all have been accidental releases from the island's labs, which have a checkered history (at best) regarding safety enforcement and containment. He points out that in each of these instances, for example, Plum Island scientists were purportedly working with strains of these viruses, none of which were native to North America, and that the outbreak of each occurred in remarkable proximity to the island. Old Lyme, Connecticut, the location of the disease's initial outbreak in 1975, is close to Plum Island; the first reported cases of West Nile virus also happened nearby as well. And duck enteritis largely caused the demise of the Long Island duck industry - and industry only a couple of miles away.

Article Author: Bill Wallo

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