Lab 257

Plum Island is closed to the public, yet its sandy shores, bluffs, woodlands and freshwater ponds sit only a short distance from New York City. The island has also housed some of the most lethal microbes known. Carroll traces its history, which is far less tranquil than its scenery suggests, and shows how a federal germ laboratory there came to pose a serious danger.

Drawing on declassified government records, interviews with people connected to the site, and visits to the island itself, the author reconstructs how the laboratory's work spiraled into crisis. The account covers disease outbreaks, containment failures, workers who became infected, and the periodic release of contaminated raw sewage into nearby waters. It also traces the links between the island, Lyme disease and the West Nile virus.

The book turns to the Department of Homeland Security, the island's new owner, and asks how it will manage the facility in an age of bioterrorism. Carroll presses for action to protect current and future generations from biological disasters that could be prevented.