Massachusetts breathed a sigh of relief after state resident and Ebola survivor Dr. Rick Sacra, who was thought to have re-contracted the disease, was declared Ebola-free on Sunday. As “Ebola scares” threaten the rest of the country, scientists at Boston University’s seven-floor high-security biolab are waiting for their chance to cure the disease.
BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories may finally meet the requirements to open, if able to pass a review by the Boston Public Health Commission and an inspection by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as reported in The Boston Globe Monday. Although NEIDL, located in Boston’s South End, has been ready for use since receiving a Certificate of Use and Occupancy in 2012, protests from the Boston community have halted the availability of the lab’s facilities, particularly concerning its most crucial — and potentially lethal — uses.
BU began constructing the lab after the BU Medical Center was awarded a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2003 to build one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories. The George W. Bush administration established these grants after the anthrax mailings that threatened the country shortly after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Eleven years late and $200 million dollars in federal money spent since receiving the grant, BU may finally be able to (hypothetically) open the lab’s doors.
What makes NEIDL unique is its status as a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory. Laboratories of this caliber are the only ones equipped to study the most infectious diseases in the world, such as Ebola. Within the walls of these high-security labs, of which there are only 10 others like it in the United States, expert scientists can pinpoint the treatments and vaccines to cure these diseases, often by manipulating dangerous microbes to make them even more deadly. While the Level 2 facilities, where scientists have been able to research diseases with less noxious microbes, have been open, the use of deadly microbes within a highly populated urban area has forced the Level 4 facilities through years of protest.
In the 11 years since NEIDL was approved for construction, scientists, the Boston City Council and several others have fought the necessity of a potentially dangerous lab. However, the lab made a huge stride toward finally opening in May after the City Council voted 8-5 in favor of permitting Biosafety Level 4 research in Boston.
“The benefits will be minimal to the city of Boston, and the risks will be severe,” City Councilor Charles Yancey told the Daily Free Press in May. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into that building, but if there is one mechanical failure, people could be exposed without ever knowing it…Many residents would be placed in quarantine that would have to be enforced by the U.S. military. It’s serious stuff.”
It is true that the microbes used in NEIDL could be deadly if they somehow managed to escape from its walls, but the potential of this is incredibly unlikely. Security in the lab costs about $700,000 a month to maintain and includes 12-inch thick walls, high-tech protection suits and vented work facilities that prevent pathogens from escaping, the Globe stated. The chance of any deadly microbes leaking into the city is highly unlikely, according to most authorities.
Maybe the city of Boston would not directly benefit from NEIDL, but BU certainly would. As one of the world’s most renowned research universities, BU must consistently produces cutting-edge research to remain competitive and continue attracting professors who are top in their fields. Having a lab that could potentially find the cure to Ebola is an incredible coup for not only the school’s reputation, but its educational curriculum as well.
“We already have both undergraduate and graduate students who have worked with faculty that are NEIDL investigators, and they don’t work at BSL-4, or even BSL-3, but they work on projects that have engineering components, bioinformatics components or BSL-2 components,” said Ronald Corley, the director of NEIDL, to The Daily Free Press in September. “One of our missions is to train the next generation of scientists, and so it is absolutely critical that we are open for training.”
Besides serving the BU community, opening this lab could have a hand in saving the lives of people across the world. With a few cases emerging in the United States, as well as the outbreak in West Africa, Ebola is a growing threat to the world’s health. A biolab such as NEIDL could potentially find the cure. Sure, there are other facilities with the same goal in mind, but if these particular scientists at this particular lab could find the antidote, who is anybody to question that?
After years of sitting unused, it is about time for NEIDL’s Level 4 facilities to be made available for use. The scientists slated to work there have lost enough time in their wait for approval, and it’s time to finally let them conduct the research that could save millions of lives.
Hope they can open the door on these infectious disease labs. There is always some threat like Ebola around the corner. Best to be prepared
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