TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The National Research Council says the federal government is still seriously underestimating the risk of dangerous animal pathogens escaping from a planned biosecurity lab in Kansas.

The council says in a report issued Friday that there are serious flaws in a Department of Homeland Security analysis from earlier this year that deemed the risk of such a release from the proposed lab to be very low.

The group also cast doubt on the government’s first assessment of the safety of the planned National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan near Kansas State University.

The council says the DHS’ latest evaluation underestimates the risk of human error causing a pathogen’s release.

The group is a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, which is a private nonprofit that advises the government.