June 25, 2004

Residents Fight Boston U.'s 'BioSafety' Laboratory

Opponents say proposed federal facility to study dangerous pathogens is a health risk and will drain public-health resources

By Kelly Field

Klare X. Allen stands in the middle of the gravel parking lot that may one day house Boston University's "biocontainment" laboratory, pointing out landmarks. Her arm sweeps in a semicircle, past the county jail, past Interstate 93, and past the flower wholesalers, before stopping at the parking lot's entrance. "That," she says, "is where the AK-47 guards will be."

The nondescript lot in the university medical center's BioSquare research park, in Boston's South End, is the last stop on