Federal agency says proposed BU biolab no threat
Many in Boston are uneasy about BU’s plan to build a biolab in the city’s South End neighborhood; a federal agency’s study says lab will pose no risk
If you were to decide where to build a biolab to do research into the deadliest and most contagious diseases known to science, would you build this lab in the middle of bustling city? This is the question that has been riling Boston resdients for two eyars now, as Boston niversity is planning to build just such a lab. A federal agency last week said that a proposed Boston University lab being built to study deadly germs is no threat to the surrounding neighborhood’s safety. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was an attempt to address the concerns of residents who’ve sued to stop construction of the lab. It looked at what would happen if the germs spread into the surrounding South End neighborhood, compared to what would happen if the lab were built in a more rural site owned by BU. It concluded that even if there were an accident, no infectious diseases would result in either area.
Some bioterrorism experts who oppose the lab say the study scenarios were “contrived.” Jeanne Guillemin, a senior fellow at the MIT Security Studies Program, says the study only looked at diseases that are not that contagious.
