Alberta Fights Mad Cow Scare with Construction of $14 Million Level 3 Biocontainment Lab

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Construction is underway on Alberta's first Level-3 Biocontainment lab (BSL-3) in Edmonton. The $14 million project was planned to increase the province's animal disease testing capability and will feature the latest technologies and systems for disease detection and research. One of the diseases the lab will test will be bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse) or as it is more commonly known, "mad cow disease".

The importance of the lab becomes more significant with the discovery earlier this month of a new case of mad cow disease in the province. This is Canada's third case of mad cow disease and the second one discovered this year. It also comes as the United States considers reopening its border to Canadian cattle. Imports were stopped in May 2003, after the discovery of Canada's first case of mad cow. The closure has created a glut of cattle in Canada, since a majority of the Canadian herd is destined for U.S. markets.

The BSL-3 lab will also test and conduct research for a variety of other animal diseases, including chronic wasting disease, scrapie, foot and mouth disease, and avian influenza. This capability will allow Alberta authorities to quickly respond and control the damage caused by animal disease outbreaks. Alberta is offering farmers $150 per head to make their cattle available for testing.

Increased security features of the laboratory include controlled card access, a protection corridor, and concrete wall construction. The modular lab design will allow flexibility to expand or modify testing areas when required, for example, during peak slaughter periods or during an animal health emergency. Although construction of the project will be completed by the fall of 2005, an additional three months will be spent certifying the lab and testing all the systems.

The Edmonton bio-safety lab project is one of 42 Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry projects that are scheduled to begin construction in Canada during 2005. Alberta, with $231 million in planned Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry construction starts, is second only to Ontario, which has $242 million in potential total investment value for the year.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry construction spending by Province for 2005.

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