Posted on 05/18/2009 11:55:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A series of state and federal lawsuits have blocked the opening of a lab complex in Boston. Neighbors are nervous that toxins could get out, and some scientists are likewise skeptical.
Klare Allen, a once-homeless mother turned community activist, was stunned at a public meeting in 2002 when she and her friends learned that Boston University Medical Center officials planned to build a biological defense laboratory in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods.
"We heard anthrax and Roxbury-South End," she recalled. "Then we heard Ebola. The last thing we heard was bubonic plague. We looked at each other and said, 'No way are they bringing that . . . into our community.' "
Seven years later, the $198-million lab complex stands completed between an apartment building and a flower market. But state and federal lawsuits by anxious residents, backed by skeptical scientists, have blocked the opening until late next year at the earliest.
The battle marks the first major setback in the vast growth since the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks of labs authorized to research the world's most dangerous diseases. It also underscores a growing debate over the safety and security of such labs -- and whether so many are needed.
Federal officials and scientists say the labs will not secretly create germ weapons, which the United States renounced in 1969, but they are determined to stiffen America's defenses against pathogens that terrorists might use.
"There's nothing military about this operation," said Dr. MarkKlempner, a microbiologist who heads the Boston lab. "We are scientists who are interested in defending the nation, and the world, against infectious diseases."
Klempner said the facility would conduct no classified research for the government, and would bar any attempt to make an organism more virulent. "There's nothing nefarious or hidden about this," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Sorry, but I’m with the neighborhood on this one.
Deadly biologicals research belongs as far away from population centers as is possible.
This has nothing to do with any actual danger. It’s the “community activist” and the eco-terrorists who support her doing everything they can to 1) undermine defense from terrorism, and 2) oppose any and all technological progress.
She doesn’t want it in this neighborhood, or any other, and if you try to build it outside city limits she’ll be there to sue for a dozen “environmental studies” conducted by a hundred government agencies to protect a thousand disease-carrying gnats while costing millions.
They don’t give a damn about the actual “community”, they just want to wall off everywhere they can and zone the research out of existence.
John Kerry pushing this one through? Someone must have a better reason than ‘easy commute’ for this one.
This just screams “terrorism target.” Far better that it be way out in open countryside.
You could be right. But I tend to err on the side of caution. See post #6
That’s my thought too.
NIMBY
When I started to work here and heard about the GNL I expressed my surprise that it would be built on a barrier island that could be so easily destroyed by one hurricane.
The person I was speaking to said he could explain it in one word - CONTAINMENT. All that needed to be done was to shut down I-45, San Luis Pass and stop the Ferry to Bolivor.
The "experiments" were destroyed and dispsposed of before Hurricane Ike hit last year, but you can bet I'm carrying more than just hand sanitizer with me while on campus.
Having worked in one of these facilities, I can say that containment of the organisms is a BIG concern. Not because the organisms are constantly getting out—they don’t. But there is always the concern of “what if” and trying to think of possible scenarios in which organisms could escape, and taking the steps to counteract those scenarios before they occur.
I was a safety officer, and gave the safety brief dozens of times. (Every person working in a lab must be briefed at the beginning of their employment, and at least yearly thereafter. I made sure our people received monthly training.) One of the things that I always stressed to people is that safety isn’t just important because we care about our employees, and don’t want anything bad to happen to them. It’s also important because of the community outside. People living nearby know what we do in the biodefense lab. How are they, non-scientists, going to believe that they are safe living in our neighborhood, if we cannot keep ourselves safe?
These labs are inspected on a regular basis. My fellow safety committee members were all very concerned about safety. Knowing the institutional emphasis on safety, I would not be worried about one of these labs being opened in my neighborhood. In fact, I might just apply for a job...
Yes, I’d believe that better than 99.9% of the time, the nasties never manage to make it beyond lab walls. What kind of kaboom factor would breach that assumption, to put it drolly? If another Timothy McVey came up to it with a van full of high explosive and lit the fuse, would that be equivalent to a colossal sneeze of the viruses and bacteria within?
The explosives would probably kill anything biological, due to the heat.
In any case, with the security at these labs, it’s not very likely that someone would be able to get in or drive a vehicle into the lab.
Explosives create little heat, much blast.
A vehicle full of explosives need not be “IN” a building to demolish it. It’s enough that it get near.
Think of it this way: if a new biodefense lab is such a huge danger to the surrounding community, then why haven't we heard about the plethora of incidents at the existing biodefense labs? You know, the incidents where the populations of whole surrounding counties died because of some escaped runaway agent? Maybe because they haven't happened, and are extremely unlikely?
It’s not “every day” we see a Timothy McVeigh incident either. Not even every decade. Once is enough.
Boston already has Plum Island not that far away (experiments on animal diseases).
That is a discredited word, used only by people whose neighborhoods are not threatened.
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