Despite federal approval granted Feb. 2 for the construction of a Boston University BioSafety Level 4 laboratory, Boston City Councilors said that the lab could not conduct its planned research without violating city regulations against the use of recombinant DNA – genetic material that has been created artificially.
Councilor Charles Turner (Roxbury, South End) said that a group of scientists called together by the Boston Public Health Commission predicted BU would not be able to conduct research in its planned biolab without violating regulation banning the use of recombinant DNA that the city already has in place.
“They don’t think there is any way BU can do the research and not break that regulation,” Turner said of the scientists’ conclusions.
Recombinant DNA, also known as gene cloning, and has been a contentious topic in the scientific community for decades.
An international controversy concerning recombinant DNA arose decades ago due to fears raised in the minds of both scientists and the public about potential hazards arising from the research, which some saw as “tinkering” with life while others saw vast potential for “improving” life.
The use of recombinant DNA in level 4 labs has been banned in Boston, although the research is not banned in Level 2 and 3 labs.
According to Turner, BU argued that it will be able to conduct research within the parameters of currently existing regulations, although Turner said BU will not be able to meet these guarantees.
“It was too dangerous to allow experimentation with organisms there are no cures for,” Turner said of the reasoning behind the recombinant DNA regulation.
Councilor-At-Large Sam Yoon said that since joining the City Council in January, the BU biolab’s future activity is an issue that has “a moral component to it.”
He added that money and the federal government’s “obsession with anti-terrorism funding” paved the way for the approval of the BU biolab.
Yoon, who said he considers himself an amateur scientist “because I’m married to one,” argued that BPHC regulations have been put in place to protect residents of Boston.
“Modern day microbiology cannot be conducted where the level of biohazard is extremely high,” Yoon said.
Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester, Mattapan) said he is displeased with the stand Mayor Thomas Menino has taken on the biolab. Although Menino has staunchly opposed the presence of liquefied natural gas tankers in Boston Harbor, the mayor has not opposed the biolab, which Yancey considers to be an even larger threat to the city than the tankers.
“This bioterror lab would be importing pathogens for which there is no known cure,” Yancey said.
Switching gears, Councilor Robert Consalvo (Hyde Park, Mattapan) refilled an order that he said would address the rising gun violence in the city.
Consalvo called for the creation of a Gun Offender Registry in the city. The registry would be modeled after sex offender registries and would allow city residents to know of people in their neighborhoods who committed past gun violence crimes.
“There is no one solution to gun violence,” Consalvo said. “The registry would empower people. Information empowers people.”
Councilor Maureen Feeney (Harbor Islands, Dorchester) said that there were some flaws in the Gun Offender Registry order.
Feeney emphasized that the proposed Gun Offender Registry would only concern illegal guns and not involve legally owned guns. It would also be only one part of a process to reduce gun violence, and it would include strengthened laws and mandatory sentences for gun offenders.
