NIH Study on Biocontainment Lab Found Flawed

The people of Boston should sleep a little easier, knowing that the National Acadamies of Science has put up a roadblock on construction of a biocontainment facility on the city's south end due to their judgment that the risk assessment is flawed.

In a letter dated November 21, 2007 to Ian A. Bowles, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, John Ahearne, Chair of the oversight committee, said the assessment prepared by the National Institutes of Health was not "sound or credible", and that it "fails to properly address worse case scenarios."

"The NIH draft report has serious weaknesses, in particular regarding selection of pathogens and lack of transparency of the modeling, leading the committee to conclude that the draft is not sound and credible," said committee chair John Ahearne, emeritus director of the ethics program, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, N.C. The NIH report was prepared for the Massachusetts Supreme Court which is attempting to assess the environmental impact of the lab.

Boston University is in the midst of constructing the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory in the heart of Boston's South End, with plans to construct a Biosafety Level 4 facility for the study of deadly pathogens and be situated in as part of the BioSquare Phase II project. According to Boston University, the $200 million facility is 70% complete, but the report from the National Research Council's committee comprised of leading researchers from around the country will not have immediate implications.

A Level 4 containment facility is meant for working with the world's deadliest pathogens, including Ebola, small pox, plague, and Marburg virus.

The assessment also failed to consider alternative locations, either in a rural or suburban location, leaving the committee "...dissatisfied with the draft assessment's consideration of environmental justice issues and how the biocontainment facility could affect an inner-city population in particular."

Construction of the facility in one of America's most populated cities has had local activists attempting in the courts to prevent its construction for five years. Klare Allen, a leader of the group Safety Net is quoted by the Boston Globe as saying "The judges now will look at us a little differently - this legitimizes what we've been saying."

The Research Council report was sponsored by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.