I read the headline, “As planned sale of Plum Island generates interest, livestock disease research continues,” (Aug. 1), in horror regarding the selling of Plum Island.

Plum Island, the U.S. government's germ laboratory, should be shut down permanently, not relocated to Kansas, in the middle of America's heartland where a bio-disaster could spread like wildfire! "The island is slated to be sold once the $1.3 billion new National Bio and Agri-Defense Facility construction is completed." $1 billion for Hoof and Mouth disease research? 

Who knows what evil the mad scientists are creating on the Island of Dr. Moreau, since you need top security clearance to go there? Anyone remember the weird creatures that washed up on Long Island Sound a few years back? Quickly picked up from the beach and never heard about again. My heart goes out to the "100 pigs and cows" confined in those buildings. Who knows what experiments they endure? 

A better use of our tax dollars is to eliminate the corporate factory farms, which would effectively eliminate animal diseases. Did you hear China just bought Smithfield's, the largest hog factory farm in the U.S.? We need to encourage and support local farms that raise their animals humanely. 

Terry Greco

Old Lyme