Mississippi has approved $88.3 million in bonds, hoping to attract the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility that will replace the animal disease research lab at Plum Island, N.Y.
Kansas State University at Manhattan is also in the running for the Level 4 lab, which will research the deadliest of animal pathogens. Kansas approved $105 million in bonding authority to provide infrastructure for the lab if Manhattan wins the bid.
Kansas Bioscience Authority president Tom Thornton said choosing the site is about a lot more than money and Kansas has a big advantage in the contest, which also includes Athens, Ga.;Â Butner, N.C.; and San Antonio.
Thornton says Kansas’s experience in animal health research, its ability to attract eminent scholars and the presence of world corporate headquarters of animal health industry leaders in the corridor from Columbia, Mo. to Manhattan should count for more than money.
That corridor is home to 126 animal health companies, representing 30 percent of the industry, including the corporate headquarters of four of the top 10 in the world. Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado are all supporting the Kansas bid for the center.
Those factors certainly should give Kansas an edge, but politics is likely to play a big role in the final decision and in the end it may well be who has the most clout that determines who wins the center.
The decision is supposed to be made by the end of this year.