Important Boston Medical Center BSL4 biolab update!!
WHAT: For 8 years, MNA has taken a strong formal position of opposition to the operation of a dangerous and unnecessary biolab, built specifically with the capability to create bioweapons, on the campus of Boston Medical Center. Thanks largely to questions raised by the MA Supreme Judicial Court and U.S. Federal Court in Boston, the operation of the lab has been delayed until now. Unfortunately NIH recently signaled their willingness to let the lab move forward. This brings the action back to the U.S. Federal Court in a hearing scheduled for next week.
If you are able, please attend this hearing to demonstrate your show of support for the community and nurses at Boston Medical Center!
WHEN: April 11, 2013 at 2:30 PM
WHERE: Courtroom 19 at the Federal Moakley Courthouse in Boston at One
Courthouse Way, Boston MA 02210, at the waterfront near South Station.
For directions, go to http://www.moakleycourthouse.com/
CONTACT: Mary Crotty, RN JD, MNA at mcrotty@mnarn.org or 781 830-5743
BACKGROUND: The struggle to prevent the opening and operation of a bioterrorism laboratory in the South-End/Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston, which would work on the most deadly Level-3 and Level-4 pathogens, such as Anthrax bacteria and Ebola viruses, is reaching a new peak. Residents filed lawsuits against the location of this lab in their densely populated backyard, complaining that it would pose serious health risks from accidental escape or deliberate release of the pathogens — the anthrax attacks of 2001 were reportedly deliberately released by a scientist from a military bio-lab. Safety measures during transit of the deadly pathogens through Boston’s busy roads were not explained well enough either.
What’s the latest? Residents’ complains around Environmental Justice and City Ordinance violations triggered a legal battle that led to a court ruling that ordered the proponents to carry out a risk assessment and publish it. NIH approved their risk assessment soon after it was published, and the residents appealed NIH’s approval of the risk assessment.
Now, the Federal Court has just notified the complainants (residents) that it is holding a hearing on the residents’ appeal of the NIH approval. This is much sooner than expected. It is very important to demonstrate to Judge Saris, so she can see with her own eyes that opposition to this lab and its location is widespread among members of the community and how strongly opposed people are to the lab. If she rules for the Defendants (proponents and supporters of the lab) on the papers —summary judgment—residents will be forced to appeal to a less sympathetic panel, which is unlikely to reverse the Chief Judge. This is a crucial moment to show your opposition.
Read more about the court case here: www.clf.org/blog/massachusetts/bu-biolab-case-returns-to-court/
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