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WASHINGTON (AP) - A dozen states are competing for a government research lab full of killer germs like anthrax, avian flu and foot-and-mouth disease — a prospect some of their residents want to avoid like the plague.
The states are bidding for a proposed 520,000-square-foot National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that will cost at least $450 million to build. It would replace an aging, smaller lab at Plum Island, N.Y., where security lapses after the 2001 terrorist attacks drew scrutiny from Congress and government investigators.
The Homeland Security Department facility promises at least 300 lab-related jobs, and more in construction. Congress provided money for the $47 million design and architecture, but no money has been appropriated yet for construction or operations.
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