Do you favor an $8,000,000 bond issue to support Maine agriculture, facilitate economic growth in natural resources-based industries and monitor human health threats related to ticks, mosquitoes and bedbugs through the creation of an animal and plant disease and insect control laboratory administered by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service?
Earlier this month, a York County man was confirmed to have Eastern equine encephalitis, the first human case of the disease diagnosed in Maine. A blood sample from the man was sent to a commercial lab because the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension, which used to assist with EEE testing, has been unable to do the work since 2008 because its laboratory facilities don’t meet federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards for biosecurity.
The lab, built in the 1940s on the Orono campus, cannot test ticks for Lyme disease, which is on the rise in Maine, for the same reason.
Sending samples out of state costs more money and takes additional time. Identifying diseases such as Lyme and EEE early means that treatment can begin sooner, which can minimize adverse health effects.
The $8 million sought through Question 2 on the November ballot will enable UMaine to build and equip a new lab where a variety of testing can be done.
In addition to testing insects and animals as large as moose — which can’t fit into or be properly handled in the university’s lab — the new facility will provide a better place for agricultural research and testing.
UMaine’s Cooperative Extension tests eggs and milk for farmers, as well as potatoes and tomatoes. Through the identification of late blight, the service helped Maine potato farmers avoid $26 million in crop losses, according to its director, John Rebar.
The Orono campus’ animal and plant diagnostic services received 12,628 samples from 1,034 customers in 2011.
This is the second time this bond has appeared on the ballot. Voters rejected it in 2012, so the university’s lackluster campaign for its passage this time is confounding.
This $8 million bond is an investment in needed infrastructure at the University of Maine to better protect human health through insect-borne disease detection and food safety testing.