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Enhancing Capability and Capacity of the Maryland Radiation Laboratory to Respond to Food Radiological Incidents and Provide Continuing Radiological Surveillance

Award Number: U18FD005533
ORGANIZATION: FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
OPDIV: FDA
AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: KDA (KNOWLEDGE/DEVELOPMENT/APPLICATION)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2015
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 10/31/2020

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Enhancing Capability and Capacity of the Maryland Radiation Laboratory to Respond to Food Radiological Incidents and Provide Continuing Radiological Surveillance - PROJECT ABSTRACT The Laboratories Administration, like many other state public health laboratories, is still seeking additional resources to further develop its capabilities and capacities for radiological food safety and surveillance monitoring. Maryland’s Public Health Laboratory is designated as an LRN Level 2 Lab. This cooperative agreement would support the national program goals and that of Maryland’s emergency radiological food testing and surveillance program. It would a l s o provide the only routine radiological lab services within 90 miles of Baltimore and the National Capital Region, a region with a population of over 6MM people. It is home to one of the largest sea- and airport in the Nation and, by surrounding the District of Columbia on three sides, includes a major portion of the National Capital Region. Maryland faces a range of radiological challenges, both man-made and naturally occurring that can manifest themselves in our food supply. It presents significant challenges for food protection with an intimate mix of urban and rural environments and activities. It has one nuclear power plant at Calvert Cliffs and one nuclear power plant on its border with Pennsylvania at Peach Bottom. Additionally, the central and eastern half of the State lies within the ingestion pathway zones of three nuclear power plants. In terms of naturally occurring sources, western Maryland sits upon the Marcellus Shale formation that runs along the western panhandle of the State joining West Virginia and Pennsylvania, a known source of radioactivity which is also a potential fracking site for natural gas recovery. The Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay has a potential issue with radon and other radionuclides released from the aquifers that are used to provide irrigation water in Maryland. The State has both a significant ethnic population of diverse cultural backgrounds and a regular high level of both international and interstate travelers. Recognizing the risk to the state’s residents due to the potential impacts to our drinking water and food supply, we need to establish baseline data by conducting environmental surveillance monitoring for radiation from various agricultural, mining, and manufacturing communities where there is potentially the risk of exposure to environmental radiological hazards. The Laboratories Administration has chosen a list of radiological compounds to detect and measure in food commodities that are of interest to Maryland. By this application, the Administration proposes to further develop and maintain a food safety and surveillance monitoring of food commodities for radiological contamination. In support of this cooperative agreement, the Laboratories Administration will focus a substantial portion of this proposal towards developing methods, willingly participate i n laboratory preparedness exercises, drills, and PTs, food emergency responses, obtain and maintain ISO 17025 accreditation for all tests utilized for this project, redirect routine testing when FERN is activated in order to better serve FERN’s mission, and allocate appropriate funding for staff to travel to training or conferences/meetings. The Administration further propose to develop and maintain this project by recruiting and hiring a contractual staff, purchase instrument and equipment, lab supplies, develop and implement a sampling plan, and conduct project evaluation and assessment. The Laboratories Administration proposes to carry out this project in Year 1 with a requested funding of $240,000 and continue in Years 2 through 5 with a budget of $960,000. 1


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = -$119,542 )
2021	2019	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	000	5	3/29/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$119,542
														Subtotal = -$119,542

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2020	2019	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	002	5	9/16/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2020	2019	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	001	5	7/12/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2020	2019	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	000	5	12/5/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $240,000 )
2019	2019	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	001	5	8/26/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$240,000
2019	2018	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	000	4	11/23/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $240,000

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $240,000 )
2018	2018	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	002	4	8/20/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$240,000
2018	2017	HEALTH & MENTAL HYGIENE, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	201 W PRESTON ST	BALTIMORE	MD	21201	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	000	3	3/1/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2018	2017	HEALTH, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF	1770 ASHLAND AVE	BALTIMORE	MD	21205	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Food Safety and Security Monitoring Project	001	3	7/23/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $240,000

Grand Total All Awards = $360,458

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Enhancing Capability and Capacity of the Maryland Radiation Laboratory to Respond to Food Radiological Incidents and Provide Continuing Radiological Surveillance

Award Number: U18FD005533

ORGANIZATION: FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

OPDIV: FDA

AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: KDA (KNOWLEDGE/DEVELOPMENT/APPLICATION)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2015

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 10/31/2020

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