Biolab 'wins' Dirty Dozen recognition

Citing Boston University's past safety violations, a panel of 11 environmental experts ranked the university's soon-to-be-built Level 4 Biosafety laboratory among New England's 12 most "egregious polluters and potential polluters."

The announcement came as part of the 10th annual Dirty Dozen awards, a tongue-in-cheek honor that will be bestowed this afternoon on 12 institutions opponents claim threaten New England communities.

The Toxics Action Center, an environmental awareness group, presents the awards.

BU's first appearance on the list was marked by safety concerns in light of past breaches at smaller BU labs, including the accidental tularemia leak in a Level 2 laboratory in 2004. Tularemia, a dangerous biological agent, infected three lab employees.

"We're concerned that elected officials have entrusted the public health of this entire city to a university with [a poor] track record," said Jamie Cerretti, the Toxics Action Center's community organizer who manages the annual award. "Human error can potentially expose the people of a densely populated urban area."

BU has said the biolab poses no environmental or security threat and maintains all research there is meant to combat the world's deadliest pathogens and diseases in the public's interest.

"[Toxics Action Center members] are misguided," biolab spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said in an interview. "In fact, the biosafey lab will find cures, save lives and be very important to the nation's public health."

According to an April 24 Daily Free Press article, Berlin said the lab was awarded a grant by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 to build the lab, which has undergone an extensive approval process.

Rona Hirschberg, senior program officer at the National Institute of Allergens and Infectious Diseases, told The Daily Free Press the biolab's plans showed 10 to 15 percent of the building would be a Level 4 laboratory, only accessible to researchers with the proper identification cards, fingerprint and iris confirmation.

"The threat to the neighborhood and community is miniscule," Hirschberg said in the article. "Even if there was an accident in the lab, nothing could get out . . . It is totally reasonable that people are concerned, but everything has been done that is possible to ensure safety."

Biolab officials also submitted the 428-page building plan for public display at the Boston Public Library in September to promote open communication between administrators and residents, Berlin said.

Still, Cerretti said there are many reasons why the experts -- which include two University of Massachusetts professors and members from the Connecticut Citizen Research Group and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group -- think BU is unfit to manage the biolab.

"The laboratory will be located in a densely populated neighborhood that is already home to eight trash transfer stations, the highest rates of asthma in the state, numerous hazardous waste sites and 15 truck and bus depots that release large amounts of diesel exhaust," the Toxics Action Center noted in a release yesterday.

While the lab has been highly contested for years by neighborhood groups, city officials and Boston residents, Cerretti said BU was nominated for the Dirty Dozen award for the first time this year because "for the first time, outcry . . . has reached a critical mass."

The biolab made the Dirty Dozen list one month after a federal judge ruled that BU can continue the lab's construction following a suit filed by Safety Net -- a group that has long opposed the biolab.

Cerretti said 22 facilities across New England were nominated this year, and the BU biolab was nominated by Safety Net.

The award puts BU in the ranks of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear plant in Vernon, Vt.; the Williston Landfill in Williston, Vt. and Boston Hides and Furs in Chelsea. And while Cerretti said the group gives out awards for "repeat offenders" and "emerging threats," BU received the "regular" Dirty Dozen award and was not considered an emerging threat because "the construction has been sanctioned and [it is already subject] to environmental review."

Boston officials have also vocally questioned the biolab's safety, and city councilors who represent the site of the proposed lab have actively rallied to end its construction. Kenneth Yarbrough, a spokesman for Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester, Mattapan), said Yancey would approve of the mock award.

"He would be very pleased that some publicity is focusing on the danger of locating such a facility in the City of Boston, and hopefully this will encourage Boston University to look for alternative locations for such a dangerous biolaboratory," Yarbrough said.

Members of the Toxics Action Center, Safety Net, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Roxbury residents will present BU's Dirty Dozen award today at the proposed biolab's site.