Lab 257 examines the history of the US Government’s Animal Disease Center on Plum Island, New York. And Plum Island’s purpose, says the book, became what Insel Riems had been: to develop biological warfare to be directed against animals in the Soviet Union, ­with the Cold War conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union having begun. The island where the world’s most dangerous animal diseases are studied has long been a magnet for conspiracy theorists. location of Lab 257 at Plum Island Lab 257 also known as Building 257 are located at Fort Terry and originally intended to storage for weapons, such as mines. [Watch Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on truTV] At the top of that list was Plum Island. Richard Perry/The New York Times Overlooking Orient Point … Plum Island is located off the coast of Long Island, New York. “Lab 257” also maintains that there is a link between the Plum Island center and the emergence of Lyme disease. These include chronic schizophrenia, psychosis, severe osteoarthritis, lupus, bladder problems, bipolar delusions, vertigo, encephalitis, infection of the brain stem and many others. [5] By August 1954 animals occupied holding areas at Plum Island and research was ongoing within Building 257. [3] Construction was completed on the facilities on May 26, 1954, but the post was transferred to the USDA before the military could utilize the new laboratory facilities. One author, Michael Carroll, wrote a 2004 book called Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory in which he asserts, among other things, that Plum Island created Lyme disease, and even caused a 1975 outbreak of it. (Idem.) Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. [1], A modernization program in 1977 aimed to update both Building 257 and Building 101, but the program was canceled in 1979 because of construction contract irregularities. As time went on, other subsidiary diseases were discovered to go hand in hand with Lyme. Additionally, Lyme disease was never a topic of research at Plum Island, according to the U… But investigators are beginning to uncover startling new facts about this forbidding place. The 840-acre island sits unlabeled on most maps for good reason. M Many of the assertions and accusations made in the book are counter to the government's position and have been criticized and challenged. Mutated corpses, hideous monsters, terrifying germ leaks, secret experiments? Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The U.S. government acknowledges that the island is home to a scientific facility. Lab 257, by Michael Carroll, tells the story of a little known island lying inconspicuously off the coast of New York’s prestigious Hampton’s. In the 80s, scientists were able to isolate the infectious bacteria carried by the ticks. In the 1950s, the lab was run by a German scientist named Erich Traub, who was brought to America after the Second World War…Police were called to Plum Island in January, 2010. [1] The original purpose of the building was to store weapons, such as mines, and the structure was designated the Combined Torpedo Storehouse and Cable Tanks building. A discredited 2004 book entitled Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory fueled the conspiracy theories. [1] Fort Terry went through a period of activations and deactivations through World War II until the U.S. Army Chemical Corps took over the facility in 1952 for use in anti-animal biological warfare (BW) research. ( Log Out /  A more recent theory is that Lyme disease escaped from Plum Island, which may be the most plausible conspiracy theory yet. Modern gene-sequencing techniques cracked the code of borellia; in fact, it was only the third microbial gene ever sequenced (after influenza and a rare form of genital herpes). It shows that the seemingly bucolic island in the shadow of New York City is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore. A conspiracy theory spread like a fever: that the researchers at Plum Island had engineered a new sickness, one that now afflicts more than 30,000 Americans per year. The theory went mainstream in 2004 with Michael C. Carroll’s book, Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government’s Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory. Traub also developed relationships in the U.S. before the war. [7] Additionally, Lyme disease was never a topic of research at Plum Island, according to the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Agriculture. To this day, some medical authorities question whether the disease isn’t partly psychosomatic. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized this and similar research in 1952. But its victims know differently. This severely debilitating syndrome was given the name Lyme disease. In the mid-1970s, a mysterious disease broke out in the area around the town of Old Lyme, CT. This leads us back to Erich Traub, the German scientist who participated in research at Plum Island. Building No. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Plum Island is a BSL 3 lab with similarly stringent protocols that require anyone leaving to shower first, where one scientist set a record of 11 showers in one day. Health researchers determined that Lyme disease had only one cause: deer ticks. [7] A discredited 2004 book entitled Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory fueled the conspiracy theories. The number of building "257" is a metonym for the entire site in 2004 when Michael Carroll, an attorney, published Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory. [1] Construction on a new lab facility, known as Building 101, also began about this time but was not completed until September 1956. The theory went mainstream in 2004 with Michael C. Carroll’s book, Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government’s Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory. The US Government’s Secret Lab 257 – The Horrific Secrets of Plum Island The center was also mentioned in the movie Silence of the Lambs by FBI agents who offer Dr. Hannibal Lecter a transfer to it in exchange for his help locating a serial killer. Plum Island houses a research compound where experiments on the world’s most dangerous bacteria, viruses, and microbes are performed. After cases mushroomed throughout the Northeast, it was finally investigated seriously. In order to have a crippling effect on the economy of the USSR, the food and animal crop resources of the USSR would have to be damaged within a single growing season to the extent necessary to reduce the present average daily caloric intake from 2,800 calories to 1,400 calories; i.e., the starvation level. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. Plum Island is a small island (3 miles long and 1 mile wide) situated off the eastern end of the North Fork coast of Long Island. Insiders and ex-employees have come forward to tell their stories. Pleasure boats often come within hailing distance of the labs—including Building 257.

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