News<\/em><\/a>), December 29, 2011<\/p>\nThe end of 2011 saw several victories for the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL, or the Biolab). In early December, the lab was given the go-ahead to start low-level research. Just a few weeks later, the National Research Council gave the positive review yet of a risk assessment being overseen by the National Institute of Health\u2019s Blue Ribbon Panel.<\/p>\n
The NRC review committee, while calling the draft risk assessment a “substantial improvement” over past documents, still found areas that could be improved for the final document. In addition to finding the assessment “very difficult to navigate due to its structure and length as well as inconsistencies in style and the use of terminology,” the committee also stressed the important of distinguishing conclusions that rely on data from conclusions that rely on “expert opinion.”<\/p>\n
“The report would also benefit from being more transparent about what was done and for what reasons throughout,” wrote the NRC committee. The report comes just a little over a year after the NRC\u2019s last letter, in November 2010, which stated they could not conclude the risk assessment was “scientifically sound.”<\/p>\n
However, the NRC wrote in this year\u2019s letter that they did not expect for the Blue Ribbon Panel to need their advice any longer: “We wish NIH well as it moves into the next phases of this complex process and prepares for the solicitation of public comments on the final draft. It is the Committee\u2019s view that no further advice from this group would be useful nor should it be required.”<\/p>\n
The laboratory was proposed in 2002 by Boston University (BU) and partially funded by the NIH. In 2003, Roxbury resident Klare Allen, South Ender Mel King and others brought a lawsuit against the Trustees of Boston University, Boston Medical Center Corporation, and NIH over the lab. During state and federal trials, two risk assessments – one included in the lab\u2019s original proposal and a first draft of a subsequent report – were deemed inadequate and not based on good science, with the help of review from the NRC. The NIH then set up the Blue Ribbon Panel, the first of its kind. Its members, independent experts on infectious diseases, public health and epidemiology, risk assessment, environmental justice, biodefense, and biosafety, were charged with making sure the next risk assessment was done properly.<\/p>\n
The 192,000-square foot building the lab is housed in was finished in late 2008, but only safety and training exercises have been conducted in it. This will change in 2013, when BSL-2 research will begin in the building. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs decided that BU must wait until the risk assessment is complete before getting permits for or starting BSL-3 or BSL-4 experiments.<\/p>\n
In response, the Roxbury Safety Net and the STOP the BU Bio-Terror Lab Coalition, which is wary of the Biolab\u2019s placement in our densely populated neighborhood, wrote, “We are very pleased that the State\u2019s decision recognizes residents\u2019 concerns and continues to keep level 3 and level 4 labs closed until an through adequate risk assessment is prepared.”<\/p>\n
New interim director of the Biolab, Jack Murphy, who replaced Mark Klempner in August, is focused on safety at the lab as well. At a December Community Liaison Committee, Murphy discussed the creation of a daily safety committee that would be staffed by a number of people from different disciplines inside the NEIDL.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the CLC is considering opening up their meetings to members of the public and hosting public meetings in the neighborhood, a move that all feel will help with transparency.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether this report from the NRC or the introduction of more transparency will change the long-standing opposition to the lab\u2019s placement in the city.<\/p>\n
In their letter, the Safety Net noted, “We continue to believe that these laboratories should not be opened until residents of Roxbury, the South End, and surrounding communities are convinced that their lives will not be placed at risk by the operation of this dangerous lab.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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