PLANS for a top-security “biosafety level 4” lab in downtown Boston have become embroiled in controversy. After the city approved construction of the $128 million lab this month, it emerged that the university had failed to come clean about an incident in which workers were exposed to potentially deadly tularaemia bacteria in an existing, less secure lab.
On 20 January, Boston University officials confirmed that three lab workers contracted tularaemia last year after handling a supposedly harmless strain. The lab notified public health authorities in November, months after the first two cases in May. It says these were not diagnosed…
