As the National Institutes of Health continues to weigh safety issues surrounding Boston University’s completed Biosafety Level-4 laboratory, BU officials said safety and simulation training are underway.
The biolab, located in the South End, would house the world’s deadliest pathogens, including anthrax, the bubonic plague and Ebola. It is awaiting an additional NIH risk assessment that will determine whether or not research on these pathogens can be conducted there safely.
The initial 2007 assessment of the biolab by the National Research Council found it to be ‘not sound and credible’, according to a Nov. 29, 2007 letter to the National Academies.
Ellen Berlin, spokeswoman for Boston Medical Center and’ the BU Medical Campus, said although researchers are not yet using live agents, safety and simulation training at the biolab is currently underway.
The two-part instruction consists of both classroom learning and hands-on training, Berlin said. Safety procedures, such as how to properly put on protective suits, are being taught to a small group of about 18 researchers, she said.
Training for the biolab is going well and will continue to follow a schedule for the next few months, she said.’
‘We have the opportunity to spend significant time on the training,’ she said.
Berlin said in the event of a lab accident, strict Boston Public Health Commission. regulations would be followed.
‘There will be established procedures and protocols that will have been coordinated with the city and in accordance with any appropriate regulations,’ she said.
Boston Public Health Bureau Director of Community Initiatives Roger Swartz said the BPHC has been meeting with other city departments, such as the police and fire departments, to discuss safety protocol for the BSL-4 lab. The BPHC utilizes some of the strongest laboratory regulations in the country, Swartz said.
‘ ‘Our intention was to make sure that current research at Level 3 was as safe [as possible],’ he said. ‘There would be additional containment requirements for Level 4.’
The BPHC is approving plans for the types of research performed in the lab, he said. According to BPHC Biological Laboratory Regulations, any entity wishing to perform BSL-4 research must obtain a permit, undergo inspections and report any accidents to the commission.’
‘ ‘The research institution would also have to submit to us an application to do any work. In that, they would submit things such as a transportation plan,’ Swartz said.
In order to reinforce a chain of custody while transporting the live agents, White Glove Services would be used, he said. These extra services, offered by companies like UPS, can include GPS tracking, escort services and specialized vehicles, he said.
Despite safety precautions, previous accidents in lower-level laboratories will continue to fuel worries about the spread of studied diseases, MED Associate Provost Thomas Moore said in a Nov. 2 Daily Free Press article. Recent contaminations include that of a BU graduate student who was infected in late October with the same strain of meningitis he was studying at a BSL-2 lab.
Anti-biolab activist Klare Allen, who coordinates Roxbury’s Stop the Bioterror Lab Coalition, said opposition for the biolab has not slowed.
‘ ‘The more we wait, the more money they’re spending,’ Allen said of the delay in usage of the biolab. ‘I’m not letting this thing go. I care about you, I care about the families, I care about the students. I care about everyone having the right to live.’
Demonstrations against the BSL-4 lab have occurred as recently as this fall. On Oct. 30, a small group of people dressed as zombies and paraded through the BU campus in protest, The Daily Free Press reported.
Allen said one of her main goals is to spread awareness of the biolab, especially in light of recent and future elections. Anti-biolab efforts helped thwart several pro-biolab candidates this year, she said.
‘We blew them out of the water by letting people know where they stand,’ she said.
Allen said she thinks Mayor Thomas Menino’s reelection won’t affect the outcome of the biolab, though the fifth-term incumbent has been a long-time biolab supporter.’
‘Menino’s no obstacle,’ she said. ‘It’s up to the judges now.’
The NIH must thoroughly analyze possible problems with the biolab, such as the infection of a researcher with a studied pathogen, she said.
‘The federal case solely relies on this worst-case scenario,’ she said. ‘They have to prove that no one will be affected in the community.’
Fighting the biolab is a matter of life and death not only to the Roxbury community, but also to people in surrounding areas, she said.
‘The city of Boston is not prepared for a catastrophe,’ she said. ‘We’re talking the plague and Ebola. If we get infected by this, we’re dead.’
Students said they have mixed feelings about the lab.
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Reena Clements said she thinks the biolab is not a bad idea, as long as the necessary precautions are taken to prevent the pathogens from being released into the city.
‘ ‘They can contain it, definitely,’ she said. ‘They just have to put the people in isolation.’
CAS sophomore Colleen Morrissey said does not mind the close proximity of the lab to the urban center.
‘ ‘[But] I can understand how people would be freaked out about it,’ she said.’
Morrissey said she thinks the biological research that would be conducted in the lab is important. She said she is not worried about a potential outbreak.
‘I would assume that they would know what they were doing,’ she said.
CAS sophomore Emma Kerr-Carpenter said she doesn’t think researchers would condone the lab’s construction in a densely populated area if they were not sure it was safe.
‘Scientists don’t want to have to contain an outbreak,’ she said.
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