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ON THE LAB TRACK
BU likely to get its biolab
BY DEIRDRE FULTON

They may be down, but they’re not out — yet. As the approval process for Boston University’s proposed high-security laboratory approaches its end, anti-lab activists insist they aren’t losing steam, despite evidence that their safety concerns are falling on deaf ears. Though BU has already gotten thumbs up from a host of agencies, opponents remain hopeful that they can keep the Biosafety Level 4 lab out of the Roxbury–South End neighborhood.

About 100 people came to Monday evening’s two-hour hearing, held by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which was the last scheduled opportunity for public input. The crowd in Faneuil Hall was split fairly evenly between lab supporters and opponents, who waited in a long line to give three-minute testimony. There were familiar faces — representatives from community organizations such as Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) and Safety Net, which have vocally opposed the lab since the beginning, as well as union men and women eager for the construction jobs the lab would provide.

Compared with other recent hearings, fewer anti-lab activists were present — and those in attendance were more subdued than usual. "I am surprised," said Cinda Stone, a Roxbury resident who almost always testifies against the lab at public hearings. Frustration, she said, might be the cause of low attendance. "What else can we say? That’s the problem — it’s been said and said."

Still, some showed up to say it again. Laura Maslow-Armand, an attorney with the Boston-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, questioned why BU would build the lab in a "heavily burdened community which already has poor health." Many speakers cited last year’s highly publicized tularemia outbreak as evidence of BU’s lab mismanagement. Toward the end of the evening, two young women got up and asked what benefits the lab would offer young people in the mostly low-income area.

Their arguments were balanced by lab proponents, who came to the microphone armed with economic, medical, and academic pro-lab arguments. Advocates ranged from Roxbury residents whose statements of support were translated from Spanish, to medical students who expressed excitement about new research opportunities and scientific prestige.

Though all that remains for BU is NIH approval (scheduled for August), opponents insist that the fight isn’t over. ACE is pursuing legal action against BU, claiming the university’s environmental-impact report violated the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act. In addition, there are measures pending before both the city council and the state legislature that address community-safety concerns. And in the spirit of democracy, Boston residents will continue to voice their opinions at hearings, in e-mails, and in the neighborhood.

If all else fails, "we will lay our bodies before those bulldozers," says Klare Allen, a Safety Net activist who opted not to attend Monday’s meeting ("I didn’t really see any big change that was going to happen") but will continue writing to her congressman and requesting information from BU. "We have to do whatever we can to stop this."


Issue Date: April 29 - May 5, 2005
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