The Boston Public Health Commission on Wednesday gave the final approval for Boston University’s high-security laboratory to start research on the world’s deadliest microbes, ending a decade and a half of controversy.
The commission’s OK was the final step allowing the study of Biosafety Level 4 pathogens — those that have no treatment or vaccine, such as Ebola. Level 4 research could begin in a month or two at the facility, called the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories.
Facing fierce opposition from neighbors and others concerned that dangerous germs would escape, the biolab underwent more than a dozen years of risk assessments, public hearings, and failed lawsuits. It received more than 50 permits and approvals from federal, state, and city agencies, most recently passing muster a year ago with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Boston Public Health Commission on Wednesday gave the final approval for Boston University’s high-security laboratory to start research on the world’s deadliest microbes, ending a decade and a half of controversy.
The commission’s OK was the final step allowing the study of Biosafety Level 4 pathogens — those that have no treatment or vaccine, such as Ebola. Level 4 research could begin in a month or two at the facility, called the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories.
Facing fierce opposition from neighbors and others concerned that dangerous germs would escape, the biolab underwent more than a dozen years of risk assessments, public hearings, and failed lawsuits. It received more than 50 permits and approvals from federal, state, and city agencies, most recently passing muster a year ago with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Built with $200 million in federal money, the building has been looming, mostly empty, over the South End near Boston Medical Center since its completion in 2008.
Opponents, including people who live nearby, have said it poses unnecessary risks to the neighborhood and belongs in a more remote area. But a risk assessment by an environmental consulting firm concluded that the likelihood of members of the public becoming infected was “extremely low or beyond reasonably foreseeable.”
For five years, teams of microbiologists, virologists, engineers, and other scientists have been doing research on less-dangerous germs in the building. Now, they will be able to move into a separate earthquake-proof structure within the building, encased in 12-inch-thick walls.
