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PREPARED HATEMEHT OF K. DARWIN MURRELL 



Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here today to discuss the issue of Federal Labo- 

 ratories Infrastructure. I am privileged to be the Director of one of the premier re- 

 search Centers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Beltsville Agricultural 

 Research Center (BARC) has a long and distinguished history of agricultural research 

 and development and is regarded as the largest agricultural research center in the 

 world. BARC has, from its very beginning nearly 85 years ago, been a leader in na- 

 tional and international agricultural research and technology' transfer. For example, 

 the very first Federal Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with indus- 

 try was with a BARC laboratory. Among the notable introductions of the Center are 

 crops and animals with improved nutritional quality and safety, sustainable farming 

 systems and technologies that protect natural resources and floral and landscape 

 plants that enhance our environment. 



Currently, the Center has a staff of 450 scientists and about 1,200 support per- 

 sonnel. We are also host to 18 other Federal and State agencies which occupy some of 

 our offices and laboratories and utilize research plots on our 7,000 acres. 



Although BARC is successful in its mission of research on the Nation's most diffi- 

 cult agricultural and nutrition problems, it is an increasingly difficult struggle to main- 

 tain an infrastructure adequate to the challenge. The majority of BARC's research 

 facilities were built in the 1930's and 1940's. Since then, investments in upgrading our 

 facilities have been constrained by budgetary limitations. This has resulted in deterio- 

 ration and obsolescence of many of these facilities, which in turn hampers our ability 

 to provide the quality of research expected of us and to fulfill our national mission. In 

 recognition of this, the Congress has appropriated nearly $78 million dollars over the 

 past eight years to address our infrastructure problems. Inspite of this badly needed 

 help, however, much remains to be done. I'd like to illustrate the magnitude of the 

 problem with several examples that I believe wiU give you an indication of the intimate 

 relationship between research facility conditions and scientific progress. 



Over the past 30 years, 54 barns or non-laboratory buildings have been converted 

 to make-shift laboratories because of the press of urgent research assignments. Many 

 years ago, this was not such a drastic action because the requirements for meeting oc- 

 cupational safety and research equipment specifications were less demanding. Today, 

 however, these poorly designed buildings are a severe financial burden. The costs as- 

 sociated with retrofitting ventilation systems are extremely high and, in some cases, we 

 must consider carefully whether we can justify the resources needed to retrofit some 

 laboratories for certain types of research. This is, needless to say, an important deter- 

 minant in our ability to encourage cutting-edge research and to recruit outstanding 

 scientists. 



Some of these projects, such as roof repairs, are so serious that there is little 

 choice but to divert scarce research dollars from the laboratories to get these repairs 

 made before disasters occur. 



Our Beltsville Human Nutrition Center suffered a catastrophe recently when back 

 up generators failed during one of our frequent power outages, causing freezer failure. 

 Tne freezers contained blood, urine, and stool samples from a major human nutrition 

 study, most of which were lost. The original cost to conduct this study was $240,000. 

 The cost to repeat this human trial may be prohibitive. 



The Nutrition Center has also recently experienced a severe problem in pursuing 

 its investigations on the nutritional needs of postmenopausal women. Nearly one- 

 quarter of the volunteers withdrew from the study because the elevator servicing the 

 building was out of commission for three weeks; the women were either incapable or 

 unwilling to climb two flights of stairs to the Human Study Facility. Because the 

 building and elevator are so old, parts and service are hard to obtain and some parts 

 must be machined to order. 



Complete building shutdowns are increasingly frequent now at BARC. This past 

 year, because of storm damaged roofs, flooding due to inadequate drains, and 



