Whereas, the Missouri Department of Agriculture has expressed a strong need for a biosafety level 3 lab to be housed on the veterinary school campus at the University of Missouri-Columbia;

            Whereas, a biosafety level 3 lab would bridge gaps within the University and the University and the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Conservation, and the Department of Health and Senior Services in protecting the environment from agents that are a potential threat to plants and animals, but not to humans; and

            Whereas, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association, the Governor's Chronic Wasting Disease Task Force, and the Missouri Livestock and Poultry Health Council have all expressed support of the establishment of a biosafety level 3 lab in the State of Missouri; and

            Whereas, the establishment of a biosafety level 3 lab is of critical importance to the Department of Conservation because of the threat chronic wasting disease poses for Missouri deer and elk herds. Since there currently is no biosafety level 3 lab in the state, the 6,000 samples taken during the most recent deer season in Missouri are being sent to other laboratories across the country, which will most likely result in delays of several months in receiving test results; and

            Whereas, the establishment of a biosafety level 3 lab in the State of Missouri will provide the necessary infrastructure to assist infectious disease specialists and researchers who work with highly infectious pathogens to do so in a safe and controlled environment:

            Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-second General Assembly, First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby encourage and recommend the establishment of a biosafety level 3 lab on the veterinary school campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia; and

            Be it further resolved that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for University of Missouri-Columbia Veterinary School, the Director of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Conservation, and the Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services.