Regulations would require permits, inspections, and public meetings.
Adrianne Appel
Biological research laboratories in Boston that conduct biosafety level (BSL) 3 and 4 work would be subject to more stringent safety regulations and heightened scrutiny, under proposed rules released Tuesday by the Boston Public Health Commission.
Under the draft rules, all Boston BSL3 and 4 labs would need to obtain a permit from the commission and submit a report describing the lab’s research projects and safety procedures. They would be subject to regular inspections by internal review boards and by the commission. And they would be required to report to the commission any case of illness caused by a “high risk agent” as defined by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There needs to be local accountability,” says Kristin O’Connor Golden, director of policy and planning at the commission.
The city is responsible for responding to incidents at local labs and yet knows very little about what research takes place there, she adds. There is no other local authority that registers or fully inspects laboratories, she says. While there is some federal and state oversight of certain laboratories working with select agents, enforcement is minimal, she says.
In addition, all BSL3 and 4 labs would have to set up review boards, called institutional biosafety committees, which would have to meet twice a year and include two nearby residents unaffiliated with the lab. One of these meetings would have to be public, during which the labs would describe their research.
The labs would also have to notify the commission when they apply for grants for new projects. The commission seeks to ban classified research and any research with agents that could enable them to be used in a biological weapon.
Violators of the rules would be subject to fines of up to $1,000 per day and work suspensions.
The commission, a stand-alone entity that has broad authority to regulate labs in Boston, has been crafting these rules since last year. The tularemia cases among Boston University lab workers in late 2004 and BU’s biosafety lab now under construction have drawn the attention of policymakers to research on pathogens that happens across the city.
The commission is accepting comments on its latest draft until July 28. Comments can be sent to: boardofhealth@bphc.org.
Adrianne Appel is a freelance writer in Cambridge, MA.