What studies have been done to evaluate the safety and siting of this facility?
NIH and BUMC have conducted several studies on the safety and siting of this facility. NIH began by preparing a report evaluating all potential environmental impacts of the NEIDL. The report was prepared in accord with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Public input was sought and considered multiple times before the report was finalized (the Final Environmental Impact Study for the NEIDL can be viewed at http://www.bu.edu/neidl/data/pdf/SAFETY_FEIS.pdf.). These analyses determined that the facility posed a negligible risk to the surrounding community. Some members of the public, however, continued to have concerns about the safety and environmental impact of the facility. Several citizens and public interest groups filed lawsuits in Federal and State courts. In the Federal court, specific questions were raised about the potential risks of the biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory. To address the concerns raised in the Federal court, NIH prepared a Draft Supplementary Risk As
