Infection heightens fear of Boston biosafety lab

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002158377_biolab23.html

 

Sunday, January 23, 2005, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

 

Infection heightens fear of Boston biosafety lab

 

By Jonathan Finer

The Washington Post

 

BOSTON — The revelation last week that a laboratory slip-up led three

Boston University scientists to become infected with tularemia, a

flulike disease sometimes referred to as " rabbit fever, " has fueled

criticism of a plan to build a state-of-the-art research lab to study

some of the world's most lethal germs in Boston's South End.

 

The project, which is expected to bring more than $1.6 billion in

grants and other funding to the city, has generated intense community

opposition in the two years since Boston Medical Center began trying

to persuade the federal government to site the project in Boston.

 

Slated for groundbreaking this year, it would be one of just a handful

of full-scale biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories in the country, a

classification that would permit research on diseases such as anthrax,

Ebola and the plague. The lab would be located in a more densely

populated neighborhood than the others, including those in San

Antonio, Atlanta and Frederick, Md.

 

The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that two researchers became sick

in May with a mysterious illness later diagnosed as tularemia, and

that a third case emerged in September. The illnesses occurred when

the scientists worked with what they believed to be a safe form of the

disease. They have since recovered.

 

The university, which has long insisted exhaustive security procedures

and technology would make the laboratory safe, did not disclose the

contaminations until it was questioned by the newspaper, The Globe

reported.

 

Local leaders, including some members of Boston's City Council who

have long opposed the project on safety grounds, said the reports lent

credibility to their concerns.

 

" They say that type of tularemia is not contagious from person to

person, and that is why they didn't tell us, but what I am afraid of

is that will happen with anthrax or smallpox, or something much

worse, " said Rose Aruda, a community organizer who lives several

blocks from the large parking lot where the facility would be built.

 

In an attempt to delay final approval of the project, she and several

other neighborhood residents filed a lawsuit Jan. 12 accusing the

university of underestimating the potential " worst-case " scenario

listed on its environmental impact forms.

 

The BSL-4 lab would join a network of new facilities, many developed

after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes and the subsequent anthrax

mailings, that investigate agents that could be used in a biological

terrorist attack.

 

" It will be critically important as a safe and secure place to work

and do research so we can combat bioterrorism, " said Rona Hirschberg,

a senior program officer at the National Institute of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases, whose budget for combating bioterrorism has

soared in recent years.

 

The University of Washington has applied for federal money to build a

biosafety level 3 lab, one step below the most dangerous level, that

would also research tularemia and other highly infectious diseases. If

a pathogen were accidentally released, the university would notify

public-health officials, but the state's Department of Health said

federal bioterrorism laws restrict how much it would disclose to the

public.

 

For Boston, the BSL-4 laboratory, which will study emerging infectious

diseases, is seen as solidifying its status as a

research-and-biotechnology capital.

 

" This is the universal center of biotechnology research as it is, and

therefore it makes sense to have a federal center of that research

here, " said Mark Maloney, who heads the Boston Redevelopment

Authority, which has estimated the project would bring in 1,300

construction jobs and 650 ongoing positions.

 

With the mandated use of protective suits, air that is doubly or

triply filtered, and backup systems to ensure electricity during

blackouts, it is highly unlikely that scientists working in the BSL-4

lab would be contaminated, said Mark Klempner, an assistant provost at

Boston University, who will be the lead researcher at the new facility.

 

Scheduled to open at the end of 2007 or the start of 2008, it would be

built for about $200 million next to a highway, university buildings

and a residential neighborhood. To protect against a possible

terrorist attack from ground level, plans call for it to be set back

150 feet from any roads with public access.

 

The Boston project has enjoyed widespread political support at the

city and state levels, but at least one longtime backer said the

tularemia contaminations gave him pause.

 

" I can absolutely see why there is concern. I am in the midst of

trying to determine who the regulatory authorities are and what was

supposed to be done, " said Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, who

represents Boston's South End and is a longtime supporter of the

project. " I am trying to avoid reacting emotionally, but my biggest

concern is that it took so long to report to the public. "

 

Seattle Times reporter Sharon Pian Chan contributed to this report.

 

Material from The Seattle Times archives is also included in this report.