Growing community opposition of Level 3 and Level 4 BioSafety labs

“Not in our backyard” was a slogan typically used by communities objecting to the building of nuclear power reactors near their cities. In more and more communities in the United States this slogan is used by citizens concerned about location Level 3 and Level 4 BioSafety labs in their neighborhoods.

Proposals to build new, $451 million, high-security hot labs in Pulaski County in Kentucky, a lab which would study highly contagious animal and human diseases, have unsettled county residents.

Residents in Boston filed a still-pending lawsuit charging that officials underestimated the potential effect of a germ release from a proposed research lab at Boston University.

Citizens groups in Hamilton, Montana, filed a suit — now settled — alleging that the government had not answered specific questions during the environmental review process for a new lab.

Concerns about health and safety issues prompted the city council in Davis, California, unanimously to oppose a lab at the University of California campus. UC-Davis did not get the project.

-read more in this report