Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory
That the United States government engaged in dangerous biological  research during World War II will come as no surprise to Americans jaded  by revelations of secret medical experiments and radiation exposures.  But that the accident-plagued facility where it happened--and continues  to happen--is just off the coast of Long Island may alarm many readers  of Michael Christopher Carroll'sLab 257. Carroll, an attorney by  trade, gamely takes on complex microbiology and shady government  record-keeping in telling the story of Plum Island, home of the Animal  Disease Center--no place for a casual picnic. The lab, initially set up  by the Army to research ways of destroying Soviet farm animals (and to  keep them from destroying ours), has often dealt with bacteria and  viruses that can be passed from animals to humans. Carroll draws  compelling causal links between Plum Island and the introduction of Lyme  disease, West Nile virus, and duck enteritis, all non-native germs that  wreaked sudden havoc in North America, and all germs that Plum Island  scientists were allegedly working with. With hurricanes and terrorists  on his mind, Carroll asks readers to imagine a scenario in which the  Plum Island lab might release pathogens into the most densely populated  area in the country. He ends the book with two chilling questions.  First, does the United States need a research facility that investigates  animal pathogens with potential for human transmission? Second,  considering that Plum Island never had a particularly good safety  record, is it the right place for such a facility?Lab 257, while  occasionally veering into unsupported speculation, introduces key  questions to the debate on biological security in the 21st century.--Therese Littleton