Boston Mayor Tom Menino led reporters and community activists through the unoccupied BU biolab this afternoon.
Here are links to a few reports:
Accompanied by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Police Commissioner Ed Davis, and city and neighborhood civic and business leaders, BU National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories officials sought Tuesday to stress how their lab may just be the very safest place in the world to do this kind of research, even sitting just a few hundred feet from the Southeast Expressway and BU Medical Center.
Standing inside one of the air-locked labs where researchers would perform work dressed in ventilated space-suit-like clothing that would be cleaned with seven-minute chemical showers, laboratories associate director Ronald B. Corley explained how “this is a completely sterile space, and the idea is that you want to keep it that way. If you keep your workers safe you really keep the community safe.’’
The lab has sparked a firestorm of protests from neighbors worried about their safety. The mayor thought a little education could go a long way in quelling those fears.
“Those individuals aren’t educated about the issue. They say ‘infectious disease — wow!'” Menino said. “But I don’t think Boston University or any of us — myself as mayor, the public health commission — would support any project that was dangerous to the health of people who live in the neighborhoods. All security measures have been taken.”
Security features include hundreds of cameras throughout the facility, background checks for workers, and very limited access to only those areas where the researcher directly works. Stairwells between floors are off limits. Each floor has an eye scanner to identify the worker, and controls that prevent an extra person from “piggy-backing” on the entry of an authorized worker.
In terms of safety for the workers and the general public, researchers in the BSL-4 labs would have to wear $2600 space suits, breathe filtered air and take a seven minute chemical shower in the suit before leaving the most sensitive part of the lab. A negative air flow system is designed to drive any airborne agent back into the inner sanctum of the labs, rather than out into the corridors.
Recent comments on this blog
Science events this week: Talking heads, Rachel Carson and monogomy
Guest Post: Science is about passion. Find yours.
HIV Research: How the Berlin Patient led to the Boston patients