South End NewsIssue<\/p>\n
September 25, 2007<\/p>\n
by Justin Rice\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three descendants of the late author and environmentalist Edward Abbey stood outside Faneuil Hall Thursday evening wearing stickers that read \u201cNO BIO TERROR LAB in BOSTON\u201d and holding signs that read \u201cChernobyl, Bhopal, Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
Known as the \u201cThoreau of the American West,\u201d Abbey\u2019s works include The Monkey Wrench Gang, a novel that\u2019s been cited as inspiration by radical environmental groups. Though not nearly as extreme as their famous relative, the Abbey\u2019s from Revere were attending a public hearing held by the National Institute of Health (N.I.H.) in order to express their opposition to the construction of the BioSafety Level 4 Lab (BioLab). The hearing was held to give the public an opportunity to comment on an Aug. 23 report from N.I.H. finding that the BioLab posed no risks to the South End neighborhood in which it\u2019s being built. The 200-plus page report, \u201cSupplementary Risk Assessments And Site Suitability Analysis for the National Emerging Disease Laboratory Boston University Medical Center,\u201d concluded that of three sites considered for the BioLab (Tyngsborough, Peterborough and the South End), the Boston site was the safest: \u201c[U]nder realistic conditions, infectious diseases would not occur in the communities as a result of an accident\u201d in the BioLab.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a couple times removed [from Abbey],\u201d Lou Abbey said, standing next to his wife, Christine, and daughter, Hannah. \u201cEd would be right out here with a sign telling people \u2018You better defend yourself against your own government.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re concerned our government would put this in a community of 100,000 people, most of whom don\u2019t have the capacity to move if they wanted to. Many people say, \u2018If you don\u2019t like it move.\u2019 Well most of the people can\u2019t afford to move. That\u2019s the thing I think is the worst injustice \u2014 hopefully a few people here will say \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Abbey\u2019s were among hundreds of BioLab protesters at the meeting who are unconvinced by the report\u2019s findings that the BioLab does not present a threat to the neighborhood\u2019s safety. In fact, Dr. Deborah Wilson, the N.I.H. Director of Occupational Safety and Health, was nearly shouted down when presenting findings that the lab would not have been safer if it was built in a less congested area.<\/p>\n
Known as the Bio-Terror Lab to opponents and Bio-Safety Lab to its proponents, the Albany Street facility will allow scientists to study some of the deadliest infectious agents in the world as early as next year.<\/p>\n
Wilson said the BioLab will give scientists the capacity to better track infectious diseases. \u201cThis model would tell us when an infection would occur, where it would occur, who would be affected and what the outcome would be,\u201d Wilson said, before being interrupted by someone asking her if she lives in Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet to the point,\u201d someone else shouted as Wilson tried to explain how researchers simulated an outbreak that might occur during the daytime, nighttime and hours spent outside work and home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen do we get to talk? That\u2019s what we came for,\u201d another person shouted to the delight of the entire hall, prompting applause from the crowed that stopped Wilson in her tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cLadies and gentleman I\u2019d be glad to present the data,\u201d Wilson said sharply, but calmly. She continued, enduring one more interruption before speeding through the remainder of her PowerPoint presentation. \u201cThank you all for your attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that, the comment period began and the public rushed to line up at the microphone. Speakers were each given three minutes to ask a question or state a point (a large digital clock that could be seen by everyone in the hall tracked the time), but an N.I.H. official frequently had to ask speakers to wrap up.<\/p>\n
State Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Roxbury), who has been a vocal opponent of the BioLab disputed the N.I.H. report\u2019s findings. \u201cWe challenge any report by government or any institution that says a Level-4 BioLab sitting in the heart of the city is a good thing. This is not only going to affect Roxbury and the South End, it\u2019s going to affect all of the city of Boston. We should all be afraid, be afraid, very afraid,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Glen Berkowitz, who chairs the Community Liaison Committee established by the Boston University Medical Center (B.U.M.C.), said he doesn\u2019t oppose the plan, even though he lives 1400 feet from the construction site.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of those opposed to the BioLab make it very difficult for those of us who either support or feel neutral to focus on objective facts rather than scare tactics and fear mongering,\u201d he said. \u201cAs the moderator of the C.L.C.\u2019s Educational Forums, I can assure the sincere, and substantive dialogue between BioLab officials and those opponents. I invite all of those in attendance tonight to join us on October 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Cathedral High School\u2019s new gymnasium on Washington Street in the South End.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berkowitz\u2019s criticisms of the BioLab opponents were met with some grumbling, but when he referenced Nelson Mandela when inviting BioLab opponents to engage in a more substantive dialogue with B.U.M.C. officials, angry noise from the crowd made it difficult to hear the rest of his comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI came across a poster put up by some of the opponents encouraging turnout here tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cThat poster depicted a person wearing an Orwellian gas mask. Personally, I don\u2019t think such speculative scare tactics are what our community needs. And I don\u2019t think our community needs to hear more about unfounded conspiracy theories stemming back to the infamous tularemia incident of three years ago. What we need to do collectively is get our facts straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cNelson Mandela once said: \u2018If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy.\u2019 I invite opponents here tonight to do just that, and join us at the next BioLab Educational Forum to take place 11 days from now.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Mundel, a South End resident and critic of the BioLab, described the Aug. 24 report as \u201cinadequate and negligent.\u201d He said that the report contains no assessment of which event is most likely to result in a \u201cworst case risk\u201d and added that the summary of the recent report notes that \u201cthe design and operations of the BSL-4 laboratory result in a negligible risk of an infectious agent (being released) into the surrounding community.\u201d Mundel quoted the BioLab\u2019s newly appointed director, Dr. Thomas Geisbert, who last week told South End News, \u201cthere\u2019s never zero risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the N.I.H. to report that there is no risk is simply negligent,\u201d Mundel said.<\/p>\n
But not every community member who spoke was opposed to the lab. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that what is done in the BioLab is for the good of mankind,\u201d Bruce Bickerstaff of Roxbury said. \u201cI\u2019d rather be able to say, \u2018We have it\u2019 and not be able to say, \u2018We need it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After his public comments, Bickerstaff chided some of the lab\u2019s opponents. \u201cThe point is we\u2019re here to come to some kind of understanding,\u201d he said outside Faneuil Hall. \u201cWhy would you disallow someone to present information? You should allow yourself to absorb the information and than each one of us can make an assessment after the fact. Not one of those persons would\u2019ve liked to be shouted down if they got up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Cohen, a B.U. mathematics professor, wondered why the lab couldn\u2019t be built on an island in Boston Harbor in on Plum Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that that is not being done and people don\u2019t to do that proves it\u2019s not about safety at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about politics and money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another B.U. professor, H. Patricia Hynes, who directs the School of Public Health\u2019s Urban Environmental Health Initiative, noted that the N.I.H. report doesn\u2019t account for an outside attack on the BioLab, such as a truck bomb similar to the one that blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not science fiction,\u201d said Hynes, who works at 715 Albany St. near the site of the BioLab. \u201cAny risk assessment has to consider threats coming from the outside in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line to speak still stretched down the aisle at 9 p.m., the cutoff point to enter the line. Those already in line, however, were permitted, for nearly another hour, to make their remarks. Written comments may also be submitted until Nov. 12. Still, as unruly as the community meeting process might get before the end of the comment period, BioLab opponents have yet to resort to Edward Abby-style sabotage \u2014 throwing a monkey wrench into the 70-percent completed construction site on Albany Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cViolence is not the answer,\u201d Hannah Abbey said before heading into Thursday night\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n
The next Community Liaison Committee-sponsored BioLab forum will be held Mon., Oct. 1, in the Cathedral High School gym, and will discuss \u201cWhat are the Ins and Outs of Transportation?\u201d It will begin at 6:30 p.m., rather than the regular time of 7 p.m. to allow additional time for questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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