The dormant and embattled Level 4 BioLab on the Boston University Medical Campus can’t study 13 of the world’s deadliest pathogens until the federal court order to redo the risk assessment of the lab is complete.
The National Institute of Health scientists overseeing that process will hold its fourth local public meeting in three years at 6:30 tonight at Roxbury Community College.
“The idea is to continue the ongoing transparent process of updating the community,” said Dr. Adel Mahmoud, the panel’s chair. “We look forward to this study concluding by the end of the year and early next year we’ll have a draft which will be available to the public for comment.
“All that will go to NIH and hopefully we’ll move forward.”
But Vicky Steinitz of the Coalition to Stop the BioTerror Lab said the new risk assessment doesn’t help because an alternative location for the already built lab was never seriously considered.
“[NIH has] been in cahoots with BU from the beginning,” she said. “They didn’t do an alternative sites analysis because they wanted it here. It doesn’t matter what they’re selling we are not going to buy it.”
