[act-ma] FW: ORDINANCE TO BAN LEVEL 4 BIO RESEARCH-BOSTON

[Amy Hendrickson]

From: Sullivan Cornelia [mailto:corneliasull at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 2:07 PM
To: corneliasull at hotmail.com
Subject: ORDINANCE TO BAN LEVEL 4 BIO RESEARCH-BOSTON

 

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at 4PM the Boston City Council Committee on
Government Operations, chaired by Councilors Michael Flaherty and Tito
Jackson, will hold a public hearing in the Council Chambers, which is
located on the 5th floor in Boston City Hall on:

AN ORDINANCE REGARDING
THE PROHIBITION OF RESEARCH
DESIGNATED AS BIOSAFETY LEVEL 4 (BSL4)
Sponsors: Councilors Charles Yancey, Tito Jackson & Ayanna Pressley PLEASE
PLAN TO ATTEND

This is a culminating event in the long struggle to make sure that Biosafety
Level 4 research will never be done in Boston. The Center for Disease
Control defines Biosafety Level 4 containment as "required for work with
dangerous and exotic agents that pose a high individual risk of
aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections and life-threatening disease that
is frequently fatal, and for which there are no vaccines or treatments."
Disease-causing organisms used in BSL4 laboratories include viruses such as
Ebola, Marburg virus, Lassa and Hemorrhagic fever.

Boston University's BSL4 laboratory, like those established in the immediate
years following the 2001 anthrax scare, aims to fulfill a biodefense, not a
public health mission. Excessive concern with bioterrorism led to the
proliferation of high containment labs which has come at the expense of much
needed funding for public health research.

The NEIDL laboratory (National Emerging Infectious Disease Lab) on Albany
Street in Roxbury/South End is located in a designated environmental justice
neighborhood which already suffers from an excess of environmental hazards.
The lab overshadows the community's most at-risk groups, including guests at
Rosie's Place, children enrolled in Orchard Park Elementary School and
residents of the Cathedral Housing Development. Residents of Roxbury,
Dorchester and other surrounding communities have repeatedly demonstrated
their opposition to the NEIDL during 12 years of efforts to stop the lab. It
is difficult to fathom the decision to pursue such dangerous research in a
densely populated, low income area in the middle of the city.

Inadvertent or intentional release of pathogens has been named by the
Centers for Disease Control as one of the top five health threats of 2013.
Accidents and other alarming incidents at BSL3 and BSL4 labs are numerous
and continue to surface. The Marathon bombing raises awareness of the NEIDL
as a potential terrorist target. Improbable events do occur and, when they
do, they may have terrible consequences.

Please share this information with your friends and lists, particularly to
people who live in Boston. We have a chance of stopping Level 4 research in
our city if there is enough public awareness and action!

All who oppose this research can have input by emailing their testimony to:
Michael.F.Flaherty at boston.gov

Tito.Jackson at cityofboston.gov Ayanna.Pressley at cityofboston.gov
Charles.Yancey at cityofboston.gov

Your message can be as simple as, I support the Ordinance to Ban BSL4
research in the City of Boston or it can be far more involved. What is
important is that you let the City Councilors know you oppose this research.

Please attend if possible. We need to fill the Council Chambers with those
who support the ban.

If you live in Boston, be sure you cc copy to your district councilor and to
at large councilors Michelle Wu and Stephen Murphy.

If you live outside of Boston, please email you statement to the first four
councilors listed above. Also cc copies to your State Senator,
Representative, Mayor, Alderman, or Selectman, as the case may be.

                                                              PLEASE CC YOUR
RESPONSE TO 

 
corneliasull at hotmail.com 

We want to keep track of the number of those who oppose this research.

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY

ATTACHED IS A COPY OF THE ORDINANCE TO BAN LEVEL 4 RESEARCH IN BOSTON