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spoils fiKioi or RATION BATTALION Friday, April 30, 2004 Hot labs’ increase in the U.S. : BAHAUON 'fter scoring is weekend f question erybody." is looking IT after the aid it will ) regroup, etter after ft have to studying off our k out and all for the Ruggiano to worn =1 By Paul Elias THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO — From Joston to Livermore, Calif., hot labs” designed to combat ioterrorism and house the rorld’s deadliest germs are [eing planned and constructed a huge cash infusion from |efederal government. Supporters of the unprece- jented building boom say the iew or expanded high-contain- nentlabs — there are least 18 -are essential to national secu- ityin a post-Sept. 11 world, ut as the labs rise on col- campuses and government nstallations across the country, o do concerns about safety od security. Neighbors fear that some lightening variant of Ebola ms, plague or other deadly tease could be loosed into W backyards, and are filing iwsuits and lobbying politi- iiansto halt construction. A growing number of scien- 3ts complain that the $6 billion Marked by Congress for fight- n? bioterrorism is excessive, is doled out with little over hand is detracting from efforts Dcombat problems that are much note deadly — for example, and malaria, which are teady killing millions of people. Others worry that the buildup rurally threatens national secu- ty, by arming more people siihihe know-how to construct weapons, and perhaps even arking a new biological arms re since two of the hot labs are 3 be built inside national leapons labs at Livermore and isAlamos. N.M. Universities in Boston. Pittsburgh. Texas and elsewhere ave already won grants to id labs, some in urban neighborhoods. In Boston, activists are trying halt construction of a $168 lion lab at Boston University, tohtbuilt in the city’s south end. Tty fear something akin to health inspectors suspect ifirred recently in China: that iIRS escaped from a Beijing ioratory and made its way into sChinese heartland, contribut- the latest eruption of the iietimes fatal disease. “It doesn’t belong there. The Bioweapons research in your backyard Plans are in the works to increase the number of high-level biosafety labs dedicated to biological weapons research. Existing weapons lab with biosafety level 3 or 4 • Planned weapons lab with biosafety level 3 or 4 « SjYeC® •rrt, if 1 ♦ V • • V '• L... r w As of Oct. 28, 2003 J irch SOURCE: The Sunshine Project health and safety risks outweigh the benefits,” said Kyle Coring, an attorney with Roxbury, Mass.-based Alternatives for Community and Environment. Boston’s mayor and Massachusetts’ governor are convinced the lab will be well protected, and provide a boost to the local economy. Federal offi cials insist that no deadly germs have ever escaped from U.S. lab oratories, and say the planned facilities will be even more secure than their predecessors. Following such objections, the Bush administration on Wednesday issued a directive that addressed oversight and coordination. “Under the president’s new national biodefense directive, all of our bioterrorism projects and programs will fall under a coordi nated and focused strategic plan that will help maximize our resources, ensure a common uni fied effort across all federal agen cies and address any deficiency that we discover,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said at a news conference Wednesday. But even some backers of the construction are concerned that the bioweapons defense program, while awash in cash, is lacking in direction and coordination. “We do need these labs,” said Ken Alibek, a former top scientist in the Soviet biological weapons program who defected to the United States in 1992. “But I've AP never seen any well-defined plan of what exactly we need, how many labs are necessary and what they should be designed to do.” The government agencies and colleges involved defend their projects as necessary to close the gaps in* national defense exposed by the anthrax attacks in 2002. They say more sophisticated labs are needed to combat a range of potential bioweapons — exotic diseases, for example, and genetically engineered bugs designed to evade detection and that can’t be treated by any existing vaccines. “We do not have the safe and effective vaccines and drugs we need,” said Rona Hirschberg of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the NIH branch driving much of the lab construction. Hirschberg said creating vaccines, antidotes and rapid diagnostic tools are high national security priorities. However, no one inside or out side of government is sure exact ly how many labs are already working with biological material that could be rendered into dead ly weapons if obtained by terror ists. Estimates range in the hun dreds, even as biotech companies prepare to compete for a new round federal biodefense grants. The departments of defense, health, homeland security and energy, meanwhile, all have sep arate plans to fund, expand or build hot labs. 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