BU officials discuss shipment protocol to BioLab
South End News
November 9, 2007
by Lou Manzo
After Dr. Ara Tahmassian, associate vice president of research compliance at Boston University, and Thomas Robbins, director of security, popped open the locks on a “military grade plastic” two-foot cubed case, removed the foam insert, the cardboard box, the Styrofoam packaging, a second cardboard box, a bubble wrapped plastic container with an air tight gasket seal, a sealed plastic bag filled with absorbent material and revealed a one-milliliter-sized vial, South End resident Olivia Martin had one question.
“Can I break through that with my 36-inch drill?” she asked.
Tahmassian confirmed that a 36-inch drill could certainly break through the package but that “you will not be given that package.”
“I’m just being devil’s advocate,” Martin said to the applause of most in the audience. “I’m a taxpayer.”
BU officials explained how hazardous materials would be shipped to the BioSafety Level 4 Lab (BioLab) during a two-hour forum sponsored by the Community Liaison Committee of the BioLab titled “Ins and Outs of Transportation.” About 25 local residents and activists attended. After bringing in the mock-up package to demonstrate how incoming vials of pathogens will be encased during transport, Tahmassian and Robbins explained how BU’s BioSafety Level-4 Lab (BioLab) will receive the shipments.
Once the Center for Disease Control approves a project, BU will ask other Level-4 labs around the country for samples of bio-material to work with. Once a supplier is determined, BU will use a commercial shipper with a hazardous materials department to pick up the shipment and deliver it to Boston via truck. BU will track the package and the truck via global positioning satellites. One driver will remain in the truck with the package at all times. On arrival to the BioLab, security guards will usher the truck into a holding pen where they will confirm the identity of the drivers and visually inspect the package before allowing final delivery.
After the initial stockpile is assembled, Tahmassian said he expects that the BioLab will receive a shipment of new material every three or four months.
Many in the audience said they were unsatisfied by the presentation.
Molly Mara of Hyde Park demanded to know when the “ins and outs of transportation” would actually be discussed. BU, citing security reasons, refused to detail the routes of transportation for the shipments.
“They may be able to keep the routes secret but there are few routes they can actually travel,” Mara said. “So how secret can they keep the routes?”
Glen Berkowitz, who moderated the forum, said that he only knew of two routes, Albany Street and Frontage Road South Bound, where shipments could ultimately arrive.
Robbins explained that the transportation security plan is still being scrutinized by city and state officials. He said he hoped the 10- to 20-page document will be available to the public in the next few weeks. He acknowledged that specific routes, which many residents demanded, could be released to the public in the future.
“With certain things, like specific routes, we want to make sure that the state and city weigh in on that,” Robbins said. He said that the trucks will abide by all state and city regulations against the transportation of hazardous materials.
“When we develop routes, our number one concern is to minimize any exposure to populated areas … We want to avoid downtown as much as we can,” Robbins said to the groans of the audience. (One of the principle objections to the BioLab from many residents and activists is that the South End is too densely populated an area in which to site such a lab. According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, the South End, and the neighborhoods that directly surround it, are some of the densest places in the city with average densities ranging from 13,361-105,011 people per square mile.)
Aside from the transportation routes, other residents raised questions about the security of the trucks upon arrival to the BioLab. South End resident David Mundel questioned the holding pen concept, where officers will inspect the trucks before any shipment enters the BioLab.
Mundel said he feared that a terrorist could open fire from the roof of the neighboring BU parking garage, which he reached last week. “I got there a week and a half ago,” he said. “I waved at the guard at the front desk.”
Tahmassian dismissed Mundel’s fear of terrorism as unrealistic.
“There is an entire infrastructure of security officers [at the BioLab],” Tahmassian said. “There are many rogue nations that for $150 will ship it [deadly pathogens].”
The two-hour meeting ended before many in the audience had a chance to ask their questions. Berkowitz said that the next forum, scheduled for Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the Cathedral High School Gym, will include time to finish the transportation discussion.