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Bioweapons Laboratories in Massachusetts
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News Articles:
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Bioweapon Infects Researcher at Texas A&M, Goes Unreported while Def. Sec. Gates was President there. Such Incidents are Common
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT, 18 Apr 2007
A student researcher was infected with the bioweapons agent brucella more than a year
ago during a Texas A&M experiment, but the university illegally failed to report the
incident. Sunshine Project, the organization that revealed the cover-up, says that such
cases are not uncommon in America.
The researcher was cleaning a chamber that had just been used to expose mice to the
bioagent when the bacteria entered her body, probably through her eyes. Supervising was
the professor who invented the chamber, which he has characterized as "foolproof" but
has caused at least two similar contaminations. The researcher was sick at home for
several weeks before being diagnosed with the disease.
E-mails obtained by Sunshine Project reveal that Texas A&M officials knew they were
required by state law to report the exposure, but they failed to do so. At the time,
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was president of the university.
Sunshine Project claims to have documented several other unreported incidents, but that
there are undoubtedly many more that have been successfully burried "due to the absence
of effective federal regulation."
Texas A&M is on the short list of bidders for a $451 Homeland Security Contract to build
and operate the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility, which is expected to bring
in up to $6 billion over 20 years. The other competitors don't look so hot, either.
The government is not only allowing places like Texas A&M to play with dangerous
bioweapons without any regulation or accountability, it is encouraging them to do so.
"It is common knowledge in the biodefense business that lab accidents with bioweapons agents
are routinely buried in order to avoid negative publicity and endangering funding," said
Sunshine Project Director Edward Hammond.
[read more]
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BIO-LAB PROCESS VICTORY, Judge says, NIH can no longer tell us what they will and will not do involving the community and the process
Boston, Massachusetts - 18 December 2006
Judge Saris started the hearing by questioning the federal defendants, which is not the usual procedure.
It showed that she had read and absorbed our arguments that NIH and Boston University were not planning
to perform a full-blown supplemental environmental review that conforms to the law.
She said that she had the same concerns as Judge Gants that the review that was done was inadequate.
She then told the defendants that they had to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act in all
its requirements. She did not spell out the requirements.
She clearly indicated that there would be an opportunity for the public to comment on the risk
assessment and the alternative site analysis.
Although she said that NIH and BU claimed to have provided enough notice to the residents, she said that
they should still do a better job in contacting the community and should have involved community groups
in alerting the public.
She wants the Plaintiffs to tell NIH and BU what needs to be done to have a valid community dialogue.
We are to write a letter telling them whom to contact and how, where to hold meetings and so forth.
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Government Funding Reduced for Boston University BSL4 Laboratory
By Prasannan Parthasarathi, Vicky Steinitz, Stop the Bioterror Lab Coalition | October 23, 2006
It’s time for city and state officials to call a halt to construction
To the Editor:
Although a Boston University spokeswoman said the university was pleased that a federal judge deferred
action in a suit to stop funding of its BSL4 laboratory [10.21 – Smith article], it appears federal
money may have already dried up. Deborah Wilson, a senior NIH official, revealed at a Monday night
community meeting that NIH has suspended funding for the facility until additional risk assessments
have been completed. These additional assessments were needed after a state court ruled this summer that
the project could not continue until a new Environmental Impact Review was conducted.
Despite this court decision, and without the proper environmental approvals, Boston University has
continued construction of the lab with its own funds, money that should be spent on its students and on
patients at the Boston Medical Center. (The BMC has contributed $25 million to the project.) For three
years BU has argued that placing this high-risk lab in Boston should not be challenged because it will
bring badly needed federal dollars to our city. If these dollars may not be forthcoming, why continue
with the laboratory? It’s time for city and state officials to call a halt to construction.
[read more]
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City cuts back on plan to regulate biolabs
By Stephen Heuser, Globe Staff | August 23, 2006
Scientists feared loss of confidentiality
In the face of opposition from Harvard University, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co.,
and the state biotechnology industry, Boston is scaling back its pioneering plan to
regulate research on infectious organisms in laboratories within city limits.
[read more]
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The Greatest Danger
Bay State Banner, 17 July 2005
In case you missed it, here is the editorial in the 8/17/06 Bay State Banner about
Judge Gants’ decision in the biolab case:
The greater danger
Opponents of the biolab under construction in the South End were encouraged last
week when a Suffolk Superior Court judge issued a ruling that challenged the
thoroughness of the biolab’s environmental impact study. Judge Ralph Gants
apparently believes that the study did not adequately evaluate the suitability of
other sites.
Here’s the problem with his decision: only one site was under consideration.
Boston University was willing to contribute $50 million of the $178 million
project cost only if the lab could be located at a site on campus which would be
highly accessible to scientists and researchers. The only significant question,
then, was whether the Boston University Medical Center site met environmental
standards. The Executive Office of Environmental Affairs ruled that it did.
Community response to Gants’ opinion indicates residents are still laboring under
disinformation. Indeed, any laboratory containing anthrax, botulism, SARS, Ebola
and plague creates a hazard. However, airtight security will eliminate the danger.
But that hazard is not as great as the danger our nation will face if terrorists
import these toxins into the country and release them, and no cures exist.
The real danger is for the U.S. to be unprepared with medical remedies to survive
germ warfare because we did not have enough Level-4 labs to find the antidotes.
For those of you who don’t know, Melvin B. Miller, the Publisher/Editor of the Bay
State Banner, is a Boston Medical Center trustee and a strong proponent of the
lab. BMC, a part of BU, is splitting with BU the $50 million cost of building the
lab that is not covered by the federal grant (about a $25 million payment by BMC).
The Banner has consistently supported the lab but I do not recall whether it has
ever disclosed Mr. Miller’s relationship with BMC.
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Bostoniana, Boston Style
April 24, 2006
BARDA [Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency] will be exempt from the
Freedom of Information Act. Also exempt: the operations of The BioLab.
BARDA and The BioLab will be exempt from the provisions of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, which requires public transparency and open meetings. No evidence of
injuries or deaths resulting from drugs or vaccines labeled as “countermeasures” to
bioterrorism or epidemics will ever become public. [ read more ]
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BU Bioterrorism Lab News
April 7, 2006
This newsletter has in depth information about the present status of legislation,
safety issues, and all things important on Bioterrorism Lab News.
The newsletter is on-line, at
http://www.ace-ej.org/BiolabWeb/biolab.html
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BU's Biolab and the Law
By Daniel Goodenough and David Ozonoff | Boston Globe,
February 10, 2006
.....
The wording of the 1994 Public Health Commission ban is concise and straightforward:
recombinant DNA ''requiring containment defined by the [NIH] guidelines as 'BL4' [today
known as BSL-4] shall not be permitted in the City of Boston."
.....
The existing ban on recombinant DNA research in a BSL-4 lab in Boston must be
upheld. This same restriction is in place in Cambridge. We must not sacrifice
public safety for researchers pushing their own agendas. We urge Mayor Thomas M.
Menino and city councilors to follow the guidelines put in place by the Public
Health Commission.
[
read more ]
Please call Mayor Menino (617-635-4500) and the Boston Public Health Commissioner,
John Auerbach, ((617) 534-5395) and ask they why they support a lab that would
break Boston law.
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Alternatives for Community and Environment
BU Bioterrorism Lab News
November 22 2005
ACE builds the power of communities of color and lower income communities in New England to eradicate
environmental racism and classism and achieve environmental justice. We believe that everyone has the
right to a healthy environment and to be decision-makers in issues affecting our communities.
[read more]
SENATE BILL WOULD INCREASE BIODEFENSE SECRECY
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - fas.org
A rapidly moving bill introduced in the Senate last week would establish a new Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Agency (BARDA) that would be categorically exempt from disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Ordinary FOIA exemptions place specific categories of information beyond the reach of FOIA.
But the audacious new BARDA exemption would nullify the applicability of the FOIA to an entire agency.
[read more]
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This website reports information from sources that we believe are accurate.
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