Screams of protest erupted from community members in a meeting Wednesday night at the Boston Public Library with Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston University officials regarding BU’s planned Biosafety Level 4 laboratory in the South End.
The BRA planned the meeting to address residents’ concerns, and a panel of biotechnology experts gave a presentation. But many of the more than 300 audience members were quick to denounce the presentations, which they claimed did not deal with the lab but instead focused on biotechnology and its overall benefits to Boston.
Meeting moderator and BRA Director Mark Maloney was forced to cut presentations short and instead address questions for the majority of the meeting, which lasted two hours.
The lab is still in the design phases, though BU hopes to begin construction in 2005 and complete it in late 2007, BU Medical Campus spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said in an interview Wednesday. She added that the lab still needs approval from the BRA and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency before construction can begin.
The lab will occupy a planned 223,000 square feet, 13 percent of which will be devoted to Level 4 research, with the remainder for Level 2 or 3 research, according to BUMC professor of medicine and microbiology Jack Murphy.
Yet many audience members considered the lab a done deal and questioned whether their opposition would have any impact on its construction.
Maloney conceded that the lab has not been finalized, saying, “the biolab has not been permitted to be built.”
Most audience concerns centered on safety and protection for area residents in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.
Attendees also questioned whether the lab would produce weapons.
Murphy said a Level 4 lab is “inherently safe,” and BU has vowed not to participate in any classified research.
“There will be a mixture of armed and non-armed guards as there are now at Boston Medical Center,” Murphy said. He added that the government would “absolutely not” try to cover up any sort of outbreak from the lab, as some audience members claimed.
In September, the National Institutes of Health awarded BU a $127.9 million grant to build the lab, which will study some of the most infectious diseases in the world, including Ebola and anthrax.
The lab is expected to bring in about $3.3 billion in research dollars, according to BRA Biotechnology and Life Sciences Specialist Glen Comiso. $1.2 billion of that will come from additional NIH grants, $167 million from small business grants and $1 billion from venture capital.
The lab’s expected annual operating budget ranges from $10 million to $20 million, according to Murphy.
About 1,600 construction jobs could be created, with 660 lab jobs to follow. Of the lab jobs, 150 will be for scientists and the remainder will be for support jobs such as lab technicians, according to Berlin.
Yet many audience members voiced concern that most of the jobs would go to the most educated in the community. But Comiso said about 26 percent of them will be for people with either associate or high school degrees.
Murphy emphasized that a Level 4 lab is necessary for testing new vaccines and therapies, saying existing labs are busy with other research.
Most audience members were very vocal about their disapproval for the facility throughout the meeting.
“What they did is a history lesson,” said Maxine Wiley, a nurse from Mattapan who wanted more justification for why the lab is being placed in such a populated area. “I’m not against science research. I’m against the location.”
The residents who attended the meeting ranged greatly in age.
“I think it’s [expletive deleted] that they’re willing to risk my life and the lives of my little sisters,” said Glen Coloins, 16, of Jamaica Plain.
Community organizers who have opposed the lab also attended the meeting.
“I was really disappointed in the meeting,” said Klare Allen, co-chair of Alternatives for Community and Environment, a group opposing the lab. “We were told our questions would be answered.”
Yet lab supporters also turned out, along with more neutral community residents simply seeking information.
“We’re all in favor of [the lab],” said Joe Nigro, secretary-treasurer of the Buildings and Trades Council, a construction workers union. He added that the choice of a Boston-area university for the lab is an honor and the lab will “do a lot of great research.”
Though supporters of the lab were not nearly as vocal as those who oppose it, detractors still accused Maloney of stacking the audience with his supporters.
“You’ve got to be kidding me if you think this is a stacked room,” Maloney said over yells of numerous audience members.
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