They've scheduled this meeting at the Copley Sq. Marriott. First, we must tell NIH and BU that it's a contradiction in terms to schedule a community meeting outside the community in a high-end shopping mall. Then, we must tell … [Read more...]
My opinion of the bio-lab proposal
Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in yesterday's City & Region section on the race between Dianne Wilkerson and Sonia Chang-Diaz for Wilkerson's state Senate seat incorrectly reported a quotation from Wilkerson in a … [Read more...]
BU scary-virus lab facing lengthy review process
In November, when we last checked in on Boston University's peculiar plan to place a laboratory to study the world's most dangerous pathogens in Boston's highly-congested South End, an independent panel of the National Research Council had … [Read more...]
Appeals Court: Boston City Council violated open meeting law by holding closed biolab meeting
In an opinion released today, the state Appeals Court has held that the Boston City Council violated the state open meeting law at least once, and possibly several times. The confirmed violation was in 2005, when the City Council … [Read more...]
SJC agrees that certification of BU’s scary-virus biolab was “arbitrary and capricious”
A big win today for opponents of Boston University's planned level 4 biolab in the South End. I only have a couple of minutes right now and haven't yet read the opinion in detail -- will try to do so later this afternoon. Here's … [Read more...]
Federal review of BU’s scary-virus biolab was hopelessly inadequate
I've long thought that locating a research facility designed to study the world's most dangerous pathogens (Ebola, anthrax, dengue fever, etc.) in the densely-populated South End was a lousy idea. I always thought it smacked of … [Read more...]
BU’s scary-virus biolab suffers a setback
Waaaaay back when this blog was only about a month old, I wrote up a couple of posts based on stories about Boston University's plans to build a "Biosafety Level 4" research facility - in which the most dangerous pathogens such as Ebola, … [Read more...]
An illustration of how selectively reporting the facts can give a false impression
We were amused, more than anything else, at the Herald's snippy editorial regarding the controversy over lab workers who got infected with tularemia while doing research at a Boston University laboratory. If the editorial was the only … [Read more...]
Against BU’s new biolab
OK, let me see if I have this straight. Boston University researchers were working on an unusual but serious and potentially lethal disease called tularemia. Two of them came down with symptoms of -- you guessed it -- … [Read more...]