Manhattan ? Kansas State University officials are optimistic that a new biothreat laboratory will ultimately be built on the Manhattan campus.

The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility will research livestock diseases and other biological threats.

Some critics of the estimated $650 million lab question whether it can safely handle pathogens such as the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease.

A General Accounting Office report questions the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to build the lab in Kansas.

But Kansas State officials say the lab’s design and safety standards are sound. They also say other labs in the United States have operated without incident, including the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.