The House on Wednesday approved $40 million worth of military construction projects in Utah - including $16.5 million for a controversial lab to help develop defenses against germ warfare.
That new Life Sciences Test Facility is proposed for Dugway Proving Ground to replace old facilities in its Baker Lab - but the watchdog group Downwinders wor-ries the facility could escalate what it considers to be dangerous testing with exotic germs and diseases."I think we're heading into dangerous waters," said Steve Erickson, spokesman for Down-winders. His group led a fight five years ago that helped kill what he says was a similar test facility.
That earlier proposed lab - with a "biosafety level 4" rating - could have worked with germs that cause diseases with no known cure or vaccine.
The new facility, as well as Dugway's current Baker Lab, has a suite with a "biosafety level 3" rating that allows working with exotic germs only if cures or vaccines are available for them.
Erickson worries, however, that emergencies could allow more dangerous work to proceed anyway, and the Army could later try to upgrade facilities for more dangerous work.
"Also, there is a woeful lack of preparedness in the medical community to deal with any contamination or infections that occur," he said. "And some things that supposedly have cures really don't. The treatment for T2 toxin is to wash down with bleach. What if the infection is in the eyes or lungs?"
Downwinders has been suing the Army in an attempt to halt its current tests at Baker Lab.
Carol Fruik, spokeswoman for Dugway, said the new lab "would be a replacement facility for Baker, which was built in the early '50s and is very costly to operate."
She added, "It isn't going to change our mission or what we do. It will make us better able to do it. The new facility will be equally or more safe than our current fa-cil-ities."
She said the Army hopes to break ground on the new lab in late 1994. Construction is expected to take two years and cost a total of $17.5 million.
Other funding in the House-passed Military Construction Appropriations Bill on Wednesday includes:
- $16.28 million for construction at Hill Air Force Base for such projects as an industrial waste wa-ter collection plant, a new waste water collection system, upgrading ofwater distribution and building of a new fire training facility.
- $3.8 million to upgrade Air National Guard Facilities at the Salt Lake International Airport.
- $1.91 million for Camp William for construction of battle training courses.
- $1.5 million at Tooele Army Depot for a treaty compliance facility for monitoring chemical arms destruction.