Biolab opponents exploit phony fears
Boston Herald
June 9, 2005
A California man just arrested on terrorism-related charges admitted to authorities his intended targets, after training at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan, included U.S. supermarkets and hospitals. What do you suppose his plan was: to buy tomatoes at one to throw at the other?
We are at war. Opponents of a Biosafety Level 4 lab in Boston should be ashamed of themselves for playing on phony fears when there are real threats, including bioterror threats, to our safety.
“Without regulations for siting of this lab, enforcement of standard operating procedures and timely notification of the public in case of an accident, the public safety simply cannot be ensured,” said fearmonger No. 1, Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Boston).
“Restaurant kitchens have more state oversight than BSL-3 and 4 labs,” said fearmonger No. 2, Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston).
These two and 28 of their colleagues are supporting a measure being vetted at a State House hearing today to place a moratorium on construction of Biosafety Level 4 labs like the one awarded to Boston University by the National Institutes of Health.
Putting aside the obvious economic ramifications of elected leaders of a research hub like Boston fighting the siting of a premier research laboratory, what about the security ramifications?
Anthrax, Ebola, smallpox, botulism – an attack using any one of these is the stuff of nightmares.
And the threat of a Biosafety Level 4 lab to the community? An absolute non-issue.
There have been NO lab infections since 1980 by organisms requiring the kind of high containment offered by a Level 4 lab. And NO ONE working outside a so-called “hot lab” has ever been mistakenly infected. Ever.
Those are the facts. And lawmakers who mindlessly ignore them are putting the safety of this city and of this nation at great risk.
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