Planned biolab delays opening again
Safety review at South End site will take longer
The opening of a high-security laboratory in Boston's South End where scientists would work with the world's deadliest germs is being delayed again - until late next year at the earliest.
The federal health agency that is underwriting construction of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories on Boston University's medical school campus told a federal judge yesterday that its latest safety review will take at least a year longer than originally projected.
The National Institutes of Health now estimates that it will not be able to submit the safety analysis to US District Court Judge Patti B. Saris until spring or summer of next year. Saris, overseeing a lawsuit filed by South End and Roxbury residents who want to block the project from opening, then will spend several months more evaluating the findings. If she backs the lab, preparations for opening would still take additional time.
For now, the $192 million building is complete but vacant on Albany Street. The centerpiece of the project - originally expected to begin welcoming scientists in late 2007 or early 2008 - is a Biosafety Level-4 lab designed to let researchers hunt for vaccines and drugs targeted at the highly lethal germs that cause such diseases as Ebola, Marburg, and plague.
Residents sued in state and federal courts, arguing that a densely populated neighborhood is no place for a lab that specializes in deadly viruses and bacteria. While allowing construction on the project to continue - eventually, to completion - judges ordered further safety reviews, declaring earlier analyses inadequate.
Dr. Amy Patterson, acting director of the NIH Office of Science Policy, said in an interview yesterday that the latest safety review will analyze the consequences of an accidental or malicious release of any of 13 infectious agents. Those germs were recommended for evaluation by a blue ribbon panel that the NIH director established to provide guidance.
"What we're looking at is a process that is longer than I think previous risk assessments have taken," Patterson said. "But it's an effort to make sure that we don't leave any stone unturned. We want to get this right, so it's going to take longer."
The saga of the lab, which BU leaders viewed as a coup that could catapult them into the top ranks of medical research institutions, has unfolded for six years. Its most enduring opponent, community organizer Klare Allen, said she believes there is hope that with this review, the NIH is "finally doing it right."
"Let's hope so, anyway," said Allen, of the advocacy group Safety Net. "After nearly seven years of begging, pleading, they are finally realizing we are not going away."
BU spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said that training for scientists in the building, which also includes lower-security labs, will begin this spring, although no germs will be used. The university, she said, welcomes the further safety scrutiny.
"This is an important process," Berlin said, "and the time is necessary to ensure that it is done appropriately."
Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com. 
