More Data Sought For Boston Biolab

The construction of a controversial biocontainment laboratory in Boston faces more problems as the latest environmental impact statement for the project has been called "not sound and credible" in a report by the National Research Council. The NRC committee doing a review of the technical aspects of the draft impact statement, prepared by NIH to support the lab, stated that the draft did not adequately identify or develop worst-case scenarios with regard to the dangerous pathogens that might be studied. The committee also rated the level of information as insufficient for proper comparison of risks associated with alternative locations for the lab. NIH gave $128 million in 2003 to Boston University Medical Center to build the lab as part of the national biodefense research agenda. The facility was to include a biosafety level 4 containment lab, the most stringent safety level designed to study the most dangerous infectious pathogens. Intense opposition to locating the lab in the South Boston area led to the prolonged legal battle over building the facility.