News

NIH sued by Boston biolab foes

Group claims agency violated federal law in choosing densely populated site for new biocontainment facility

Written byJohn Dudley Miller
| 2 min read
Save for Later
Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
An activist legal group filed suit against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Thursday (May 18), claiming the agency's decision to approve building a high-security biocontainment lab in a densely populated, largely minority community around Boston's South End violates federal law.The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston by the Conservation Law Foundation on behalf of five black and Puerto Rican residents, claims NIH broke the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by not conducting a thorough environmental review of the site, not "taking a comprehensive, objective look at the environmental risks" to nearby residents, and not considering alternative sites. The suit claims the neighborhood meets the federal definition of an "environmental justice community," one where minority residents are overburdened by environmental hazards. It asks the court to stop all federal funding of the biolab.The biolab, called the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, has been controversial since September 2003, when the NIH's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease chose Boston over other competing cities. The $178 million lab, consisting of biosafety levels (BSL) 2, 3, and 4, would be one of only a dozen labs in the country authorized to conduct research on incurable fatal diseases such as Ebola virus. In April 2004, 146 Massachusetts university professors sent a letter to Boston's mayor and BU's trustees, saying that the risk of human error or terrorist attacks was too great to accept.However, in February, NIH awarded Boston University (BU) $128 million to build the lab. Preliminary site work began last month, according to a BU spokeswoman, but no excavation has taken place and nothing has been built. Eloise Lawrence, staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation and lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Scientist residents were scared to live near a facility where samples of fatal, non-curable diseases were transported into and out of the lab by commercial carriers driving through local streets.A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the lawsuit, as did BU's spokeswoman. Yesterday, lab director Mark Klempner, BU medical center's associate provost, said in a statement that NIH's environmental assessment was totally above board. "The approval process for the laboratory was rigorous and thorough and Boston University Medical Center complied fully with all federal, state and local processes and procedures."jmiller@the-scientist.comLinks within this article"Activists sue NIH, claim BU biolab funding illegal," Conservation Law Foundation, May 18, 2006. http://www.clf.org/general/internal.asp?id=857J.D. Miller, "NIH OKs embattled Boston biolab," The Scientist, February 3, 2006. http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23076/Conservation Law Foundation http://www.clf.org/National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/Nepa/regs/nepa/nepaeqia.htm"Stop the Bioterrorism Lab," Alternatives in Community and Environment. http://www.ace-ej.org/BiolabWeb/biolab.htmlJ.D. Miller, "Sparks fly on Boston lab plan," The Scientist, May 5, 2004. http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22154/
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Join for free today
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Share

Related Research Resources

Advancing Drug Discovery with Artificial Intelligence

Advancing Drug Discovery with Artificial Intelligence

Webinar

Hits Inc.
Capturing 3D Cell Biology in Its Natural Environment

Capturing 3D Cell Biology in Its Natural Environment

Webinar

sartorius logo
A floating 3D rendered mycoplasma bacterium

Harnessing PCR Testing for Safe and Effective Cell Therapies

eBook

sartorius logo
Building Advanced Cell Models Using New Approach Methodologies

Building Advanced Cell Models Using New Approach Methodologies

Webinar

Lonza
Image of a woman with her hands across her stomach. She has a look of discomfort on her face. There is a blown up image of her stomach next to her and it has colorful butterflies and gut bacteria all swarming within the gut.
November 2025, Issue 1

Why Do We Feel Butterflies in the Stomach?

These fluttering sensations are the brain’s reaction to certain emotions, which can be amplified or soothed by the gut’s own “bugs".

View this Issue

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Olga Anczukow and Ryan Englander discuss how transcriptome splicing affects immune system function in lung cancer.

Long-Read RNA Sequencing Reveals a Regulatory Role for Splicing in Immunotherapy Responses

Pacific Biosciences logo
Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Conceptual cartoon image of gene editing technology

Exploring the State of the Art in Gene Editing Techniques

Bio-Rad
Conceptual image of a doctor holding a brain puzzle, representing Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.

Simplifying Early Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis with Blood Testing

fujirebio logo

Products

Product News

Eppendorf Logo

Research on rewiring neural circuit in fruit flies wins 2025 Eppendorf & Science Prize

Evident Logo

EVIDENT's New FLUOVIEW FV5000 Redefines the Boundaries of Confocal and Multiphoton Imaging

Evident Logo

EVIDENT Launches Sixth Annual Image of the Year Contest

10x Genomics Logo

10x Genomics Launches the Next Generation of Chromium Flex to Empower Scientists to Massively Scale Single Cell Research