Oops...
So you think you have bad neighbors?
How would you like to live next door to some of the most dangerous infectious diseases in the world, like ebola, the West Nile virus, and a smattering of influenza bugs capable of causing the next deadly pandemic?
If you live in the densely populated South End of Boston, get out the Welcome Wagon, because these killer bugs are moving in:
Boston University won final federal approval Thursday for a controversial plan to build a research laboratory in the city's South End that would handle some of the world's most dangerous and exotic germs.
Is it just me, or is it a little foolhardy to put this lab in a crowded urban neighborhood instead of someplace rural and sparsely populated?
This is just plain hubris. I can almost hear the bureaucrats at the National Institutes of Health crowing, Don't worry. We don't make mistakes. What could possibly go wrong?
Heckuva job, NIH.
Comments
Wow. Anthony Good catch!
Remember the outbreak in Reston Virginia back, I think in the early 90's?
They had transported a lot
of monkeys in for medical research testing, then one got sick..and another.
They found it to be EBOLA
*and the fascility was right next door to a Kidner-Care,
*and it spread through the air of the building, which killed many monkeys.
Thank Heavens, for some unknown reason, this type did not spread or infect humans, otherwise they might have written the NAC a bit earlier than planned.
Ebola is a nasty way to go.Yuk.
Posted by: aj | February 3, 2006 03:30 PM
I had forgotten about that outbreak, but thanks for the reminder.
I just did some checking, and there were also a couple of outbreaks in Texas — fortunately, just in the lab monkeys, not in humans.
Nasty is right.
Posted by: abi | February 3, 2006 04:47 PM
Do you REALLY think this site was placed in uber-liberal Boston by accident?
I'm sure, then, that you're certain the levelling of "Chocolate City" was an "act of God."
Speaking for the RNC, let me assure you we are doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in our power to win the 2006 midterms.
This post never happened,
Rex
Posted by: Rex Kramer, Danger Seeker | February 3, 2006 11:31 PM
It's gotta be a plot to wipe out Boston. Gotta be...
Posted by: Neil Shakespeare | February 4, 2006 09:45 AM