City Council members revisited the previously tabled motion WITHOUT public input at this time on April 12, 2022 passing motion allowing R&D life sciences facilities not to exceed BioLab-2 (BL2) level.
JOE BONCORE: PROPOSED BIOSAFETY ORDINANCE WOULD IMPROVE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IN LYNN
Several Lynn residents challenged proposed ordinance on allowing Level-3 biolab in Lynn. Such ordinance evidently already exists in Beverly, Malden & Revere … Discussion was tabled on March 22, 2022.
Below is the editorial the Lynn Daily Item printed for a Lynn resident.
Context: The City of Lynn, MA is proposing an ordinance that would allow biosafety level-3 facilities working with recombinant DNA in the town. The original draft also raised the possibility that corrupt officials in the city government may not make the best decisions, but the editor asked the author to remove this section:
This Tuesday, March 22nd, the Lynn City Council will vote on a proposed ordinance that would allow for facilities that handle recombinant DNA (rDNA) within city limits. Although presented as an opportunity for the people of Lynn, this ordinance poses serious risks and problems that cannot be ignored.
The ordinance allows for materials requiring a biosafety level-3 environment, which according to the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard includes pathogens such as West Nile Virus, Tuberculosis, and Covid-19. Some will take comfort in the fact that the ordinance requires these facilities to follow NIH guidelines (except perhaps beagle owners), but the ordinance lacks effective means to ensure any compliance in the first place. Each violation only results in a $300 fine per day. For many companies, it may be more cost-effective to simply pay the fine instead of correcting the safety hazard. If a violation could result in loss of life, shouldn't the penalty be at least in the seven figure range?
Furthermore, "any accidental release...shall be reported to the Public Health Director immediately, and in no case more than twenty-four hours after the release." Depending on the circumstance, twenty-four hours could be too late to prevent an infectious outbreak from spreading to the public. If the City Council decides to permit these pathogens in the city, wouldn't it be more effective to require immediate--in the literal sense--notification of fire, police, or other emergency personnel, instead of a leisurely day and night to notify a bureaucrat? Are our emergency services equipped to handle the types of incidents that may occur? Would it be outrageous to require a hardwired panic button to the fire department to ensure instantaneous response to a potential crisis? Should we install air raid sirens such as those outside nuclear power plants to immediately alert residents of a problem? If such extreme measures are even slightly warranted, this ordinance becomes less and less sensible.
The ordinance is also the result of an influx of federal funding for bio-manufacturing, which creates doubt as to whether there is a true demand for such facilities. As political fads change, will these proposed bio facilities still have the money to operate safely, or could they degenerate into hazardous industrial slums? Can we just have our tax dollars from the federal government returned without the biohazard element?
I'd encourage any interested residents to attend the meeting at City Hall on Tuesday to ask the hard questions that guarantee good policies.”
#PeoplesPressMA #LynnMA #WeThePeopleOfMA #Biolab #InformedConsent