Christopher Brayton; Robert Francis; James Keeney; Michael Kozu;

Attending

Ronald Corley, Associate Director, NEIDL; Jamie Fay, President, Fort Point Associates; Kevin Tuohey, Executive Director, Research Compliance, BU; Carla Richards, Director, Community Relations, BU Medical Campus

Regulatory - History & Status Update - Risk Assessments at the NEIDL

Introductions were made. Fay gave an overview of his professional background as an urban planning and environmental design consultant and discussed his initial role on the NEIDL project which dates back to the early planning for BioSquare Phase II in the late 90’s.

Fay led discussion on the history of risk assessments and analyses for the NEIDL, including:

· Draft Project Impact Report/Environmental Impact Report September 2003

· Final Project impact Report/Environmental Impact Report, July 2004

· Draft Environmental Impact Statement, June 2004

· Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, March 2005

· Final Environmental Impact Statement, December 2005, and

· Draft Supplemental Risk Assessments & Site Suitability Analyses for the NEIDL, 2007

· Blue Ribbon Panel/NIH Assessment - Ongoing

Fay stated that while a favorable decisions were issued by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Secretary of Environmental Affairs and the NIH for the NEIDL the uniqueness of the NEIDL project, the agents to be studied and concerns over public safety gave rise to both federal and state legal action which continues to this day.

An additional risk assessment is currently being undertaken by Tetra Tech under contract from a specially appointed NIH Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) for the NEIDL and in consultation with the National Research Council.

Francis questioned whether other BSL-4 labs in or outside of the country have had to undergo a similar review of risk and Fay and Tuohey mentioned that in their experiences, the breadth and depth of reviews for the NEIDL are unprecedented. Keeney asked for clarification on the timeline for creation of the BRP and completion of the risk assessment. Fay said it is anticipated that the results of the current study will be available early winter 2011 and contribute to the legal findings at the federal and state levels, perhaps 6 or 8 months down the line.

The next public meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel meeting will be held at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at Roxbury Community College.

Operations - Years 6-10 Grant Submission

Tuohey updated the membership on the recent NEIDL grant submission for five-year operational support.

Administrative

Members were invited to attend the public meeting of the Institutional Biosafety Committee on the medical campus at noon today.

A ‘save the date’ was announced for members interested in attending Washington Gateway Main Street’s annual NeckTies dinner and reception on Wednesday, November 3, 2010.