Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) speaks to the economic and geographic impracticality of closing the state's Animal Testing Lab in Centralia.

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pictured above, state Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) speaks to the economic and geographic impracticality of closing the state's Animal Testing Lab in Centralia. When speaking with the Department of Agriculture administrators about why the state should not close the facility, Costello emphasized the more than 400,000 annual tests administered at the facility that come from Southern Illinois, the additional time and cost required by farmers to travel from the 116th district to Galesburg, and the economic impact of the lab's closure.