Construction continues on a high-security laboratory at Boston University, despite multiple lawsuits by local critics seeking to block the controversial facility. In the latest setback for the critics, a federal judge last week declined to order work to stop, but she did say she might do so in the future, according to The Boston Globe.

The lawsuit seeks to cut off the federal grants from the National Institutes of Health that are paying for the $128-million lab, which when completed will be one of only two facilities in the country with a capability to handle research into a host of deadly microbes (The Chronicle, June 24, 2004). The lab has already won approval from local, state, and federal agencies, but the critics say supporters have failed to take account of the lab’s potential for environmental and health hazards (The Chronicle, May 19).

A parallel lawsuit in the state courts also has not blocked construction from proceeding on the facility, known as a Biosafety Level 4 lab, although the judge in that case did call for a fresh review of the project’s environmental impact (The Chronicle, August 4).