E-Mail This Article to a Friend GERM WARFARE South End to biodefense lab: Bug off BY KRISTEN LOMBARDI

Yet another group has formed this week to rally against a Boston University proposal to build a $1.6 billion "biosafety laboratory" at Boston University Medical Center, in the heart of the South End. And the Boston University Germ Biodefense Lab Opposition Committee, or BUGBLOC, as it’s called, is gearing up for a loud and visible fight.

"Not enough is being done to stop this proposal," says Rasheed Khalid, a biology professor at Bunker Hill Community College and a Medford resident. He and a dozen of his BUGBLOC colleagues will host a forum on the proposed biodefense lab this Thursday. "If we can stir up some dust," he explains, "maybe we can delay this project."

BUGBLOC is the latest in a long list of people and organizations opposing the university’s proposal — a list that includes Boston city councilors-at-large Chuck Turner, Felix Arroyo, and Maura Hennigan, as well as the Cambridge-based Council for Responsible Genetics. Currently, BU Medical Center is seeking a grant from the federal National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to build a high-level biosafety laboratory, at which scientists would study treatments and vaccines for a host of lethal agents — from smallpox and anthrax to the plague. Under the plan, the university would construct the facility in an area known as "Biosquare," adjacent to the medical center, where the South End and Roxbury neighborhoods intersect.

To opponents, such a facility brings with it too many health and safety risks. According to Penn Loh, of Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), a Roxbury-based environmental-justice group working with BUGBLOC, community activists and residents alike worry about the "very deadly bioweapons agents" that BU scientists would handle at the lab — particularly in light of the densely populated surroundings. Indeed, ACE estimates that 25,000 people live within one mile of BU Medical Center, while another one million live within 10 miles. At the same time, opponents doubt that the project would offer Roxbury and South End residents much in the way of economic benefits, since many don’t have the advanced science degrees necessary to find employment in a high-end lab.

Above all, however, opponents complain that BU has been less than forthcoming about its NIAID grant application. The more that activists have pressed university officials for answers, the more reticent those officials have become. As Loh puts it, "There has been this whole air of secrecy about what BU is doing."

But Ellen Berlin, head of communications at BU Medical Center, defended the university’s efforts at community outreach. Since BU applied to the NIAID in January, she says, it has held 13 meetings with various South End groups to outline its lab proposal. Berlin adds, "We have tried very hard to reach out to the community."

Berlin contends that opponents have little to fear from the BU lab. The NIAID, which will select a grant winner in September, operates five biosafety laboratories throughout the country, most of which are located in cities such as Atlanta, San Antonio, and Bethesda, Maryland. The facilities have existed for a total of 72 years and not one has ever experienced an environmental leak or other type of safety hazard. "So the track record is quite good," she says.

As for the economic benefits, Berlin notes that the lab, if it were built, would create 1300 construction jobs, half of which are slated for Boston residents. In addition, it would yield 660 permanent positions, some of which would go to administrative assistants, lab technicians, security guards — in other words, jobs that don’t require advanced degrees. "While I know folks think the jobs need such degrees," Berlin says, "it’s just not the case."

But opponents remain unconvinced. Khalid, Loh, and other neighborhood activists have already written to the NIAID, urging it to reject BU’s application. They have held forums to generate opposition. They are even pushing the Boston City Council to pass an ordinance that would ban the construction of biosafety laboratories within the city limits; the ordinance, sponsored by Councilor Turner, will be the topic of a council hearing in September.

Now that BUGBLOC has arrived on the scene, opponents aim to become even more visible. "My main goal is to jump-start a dialogue," Khalid explains. "This is serious business, and we only have a short time to act."

BUGBLOC will host is first forum on the BU biodefense lab this Thursday, August 21, at 6 p.m., at the Parker Hill Branch of the Boston Public Library, 1497 Tremont Street. The event is free.