Federal Judge Rules in Favor of BU’s Biolab; One Local Review Remains
Original article from: Boston.com, posted on October 1, 2013. By Kay Lazar
A federal court has ruled that Boston University can proceed with its decade-long push to study some of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases in a South End laboratory, a decision that leaves the university needing only permission from local health officials before the controversial research can begin.
“While the community has understandable concerns about the wisdom of locating the facility in a highly populated urban area,” US District Court Judge Patti B. Saris wrote in a decision issued late Monday, the final federal assessment of risks posed to the public from accidents or “malevolent acts is extremely low, or beyond reasonably foreseeable.”
Saris also concluded that the probability of infection is so low that “none is likely to occur for any of the [germs studied] over the proposed 50-year lifetime of the Biolab.”