South End News<\/p>\n
March 13, 2008<\/p>\n
by Linda Rodriguez, Managing Editor<\/p>\n
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on March 6 additional steps in its attempt to address public safety concerns around the Boston University BioLab, including the formation of a Blue Ribbon Panel of respected scientists to advise the federal agency.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the BioLab are not impressed.<\/p>\n
“I think it\u2019s another smoke and mirrors thing that they\u2019re offering,” said Mel King, a South End resident and former state representative. King is also a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit against the NIH alleging that the agency failed to comply with National Environmental Protection Act process in its environmental review of the lab. In 2006, a U.S. District Court judge agreed, issuing a ruling that the NIH would be required to conduct a supplemental risk assessment of the BioLab. The most court recent filing from the NIH indicates that its supplemental review will not be ready until April 2009.<\/p>\n
King is not convinced good will come of the Blue Ribbon Panel, which will meet for the first time on Thursday, March 13, in a session that will be webcast live on the NIH\u2019s website. The explicit purpose of the panel is to review current risk assessments offered by the NIH and to “provide independent technical expertise and guidance,” according to a press release from the NIH. The panel includes experts in infectious diseases and epidemiology, as well as environmental justice and risk communications and others.<\/p>\n
“I think they will continue to try and do something until they find people who will agree with them,” King said of the NIH and the panel. “They\u2019ve had three of these studies already and they\u2019ve all come up wanting… I think they ought to own the fact that the risks are too great.”<\/p>\n
The BU BioLab, officially known as the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL), has long been the subject of fierce debate, neighborhood ire and both the federal and a state lawsuit. The concern is primarily over the biosafety Level-4 portion of the lab, which would study some of the most deadly viruses in the world, including Ebola and Lassa fever. The project also includes biosafety Level-2 and 3 labs and is being funded in part by the NIH, which awarded BU a $128 million grant in 2003 to build the facility. The current estimated amount of that grant is around $141 million.<\/p>\n
Construction on the Albany Street site continues and is expected to be complete by October 2008, at a cost of $198 million; at that point, research on Level-2 and 3 contagions can begin. Whether or not the lab will commence studying Level-4 viruses – the viral hemorrhagic fevers, for example – is dependent on the NIH\u2019s completion of the court-ordered supplemental risk assessment. In addition to the district court decision, the National Research Council, an independent nonprofit that advises government policy on scientific matters, called the NIH\u2019s previous risk assessments “not sound” in November 2007.<\/p>\n
John Burklow, director of communications at NIH, said that the panel would be working with and requesting input from National Research Council scientists, to eventually inform the NIH\u2019s final risk assessment. As yet, Burklow said, decisions about what kinds of additional assessments have not been made.
\n“We\u2019re taking a very comprehensive look at the entire issue and you have to look at all the facets, including how we\u2019re communicating with the community, the scientific community as well as those who live in the area, whoever is concerned,” Burklow said, explaining the panel\u2019s intention.<\/p>\n
Burklow also said that the panel was chosen to make sure it included not only a geographic diversity of members, but also individuals “who did not have a personal interest in the lab or a vested interest in the conclusions.”
\nKing disagrees. “The chances that they would get an independent group are very, very slim,” he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Adel Mahmoud, of the Princeton University department of molecular biology, is chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel; he didn\u2019t return several calls for comment, nor did Dr. Dennis Kasper of the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women\u2019s, also the only Boston-area representative on the panel. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NIH director who convened the panel, was also not available for comment for this story, according to the NIH communications office.<\/p>\n
In an e-mailed statement, Ellen Berlin of the BU Medical Center\u2019s communications office said, “We welcome the additional study and applaud the creation of the blue ribbon panel of independent esteemed scientists …We are confident that the lab will be safe, and this third-party examination is an important step in the public process.”<\/p>\n
Still, opponents like King aren\u2019t so easily swayed. “I think they\u2019re wasting people\u2019s time and money,” he said. Later, he likened the NIH\u2019s decision to continue to fund the BioLab\u2019s construction to the decision of the Bush Administration, which he does not esteem too highly, to push the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s the same kind of overlooking intelligence that came from Iraq, just to have what you want. We know it was flawed and this is flawed and they\u2019re just going to keep going until they can find someone who can give them the answer they want,” he said. “It\u2019s deceitful.<\/p>\n
“The first meeting of the National Institutes of Health Blue Ribbon Panel, convened to address safety issues around BU\u2019s Level-4 BioLab, will take place on Thursday, March 13 at 8:30 a.m. EST. The meeting will be webcast at the NIH\u2019s site, in the upcoming events section at <\/em>http:\/\/videocast.nih.gov.<\/a> To access the webcast, click the link to watch the live or archived video. Real Player is necessary to see the program and can be downloaded for free from the website. Technical login support is also available from the site at the top FAQs. <\/em><\/p>\n