In January, these pages addressed a controversy over Boston University’s plan to build a Biodefense Level 4 Laboratory in Roxbury. We said that South End community outrage over the project was not totally unfounded, but at the same time rather unjustified because of how much the benefits of the project far outweighed the dangers. Ten months later, a group of concerned citizens in the neighborhood have announced they will sue BU to ensure the laboratory does not get built, and again, we say, they are overreacting.

Among the community groups filing the suit are SafetyNet and Alternatives for Community and Environment. Both of these organizations have accused the proposed laboratory of being a serious safety hazard, and that any possible mishap at the lab would be ‘catastrophic,’ going on to describe the laboratory as having the potential to be another Chernobyl or Three-Mile Island.

While there are certainly inherent dangers in having biological and chemical agents of that level around anywhere, these community groups are not only giving in to paranoia, but also failing to acknowledge any of the benefits that might come of the laboratory.

The university is not a land-developing corporation; the creation of its lab is not a hazardous development project but a research facility in which its medical school will be able to stay in time with the latest technological advancements in several fields. Safety precautions are at a maximum, and while the latest technology will be in place to research these diseases and chemical agents, the latest technology will also be in place in the event of an emergency. To date, there have been no breakouts or hazardous effects found in any Level 4 laboratory anywhere in the United States, and the community groups have yet to present any hard evidence or precedent. Accusatory name-calling and paranoia are blinding these groups to the very low risks and very high potential benefits involved.

All things considered, Boston University must do a better job of making area resident feel more comfortable with the idea of the laboratory. With such a controversial project at its fingertips, the university should have done a far better job of planning ahead, and calming residents by offering more hard data and reassurance that the facility will not be a terrible danger.

It is slightly embarrassing for the university that it did not be more proactive and submit a much-needed environmental impact report. While university officials are right to denounce the communities’ lawsuit as ‘ridiculous,’ it is equally ridiculous they have not done more to soften the situation.