The U.S. National Institutes of Health said it would would need another year or more to review possible safety threats that a $192 million Boston University biological defense laboratory could pose to the surrounding city, the Boston Globe reported yesterday (see GSN, May 5, 2008).
Extending the safety review would push back the opening of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories to the end of 2010 or later. It was originally expected to begin operating by early 2008.
The assessment is expected to consider what might occur should there be an accidental or intentional release of disease material from the controversial facility, which has faced strong opposition from area residents.
"What we're looking at is a process that is longer than I think previous risk assessments have taken," said Amy Patterson, acting head of the NIH Science Policy Office. "But it's an effort to make sure that we don't leave any stone unturned. We want to get this right, so it's going to take longer."
The university plans to begin training scientists at the site this spring without using actual disease agents, said spokeswoman Ellen Berlin.
"This is an important process and the time is necessary to ensure that it is done appropriately," she added (Stephen Smith, Boston Globe, April 15).
Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner said he would continue to oppose plans to open a Biosafety Level 4 area within the laboratory, which would become the nation's seventh facility permitted to handle the world's deadliest human disease agents, the Boston University Daily Free Press reported. The site would also house laboratories with lower biosafety designations.
“This Level 4 lab allows for experimentation with the most dangerous pathogens in the world,” Turner said. “I do not think we need any more Bio 4 labs other than the six we now have, and I certainly don’t think they need to be sited in the urban areas if they are built” (Williette Nyanue, Daily Free Press, ).