Legal challenges and objections from local residents prevented a biological defense laboratory from opening on time this year in Boston, the Boston Herald reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 12).
Construction of the federally funded National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories is about 90 percent finished, but there have been deep concerns about operating the facility in the populous South End of Boston. A lawsuit by community organizations led state courts to order a new environmental impact assessment for the site before it can work with deadly biological agents such as Ebola and plague (see GSN, Dec. 14, 2007).
The university has not set a new date for the facility to open, but it plans to begin conducting employee training next year, university spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said.
"It's an exceptional opportunity," she said, adding that personnel would train in emergency response as well as acquiring and transferring simulated biological agents (Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, Aug. 12).