|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7th, 2006 CONTACTS: Wendy Van Horne Ron Francis == BEGIN STATEMENT == Feds should not have final word on BU biolab, Green-Rainbow to continue oppositionAlthough the National Institutes of Health have given the go-ahead to a Boston University Bio-terror Lab proposed for the densely populated South End of Boston, the Green-Rainbow Party contends their OK should not be the final word. "The political leaders who are now promising safety in the lab suites” revealed long-time activist and politician, Mel King, "are the same political leaders who are incapable of promising safety on our streets. They profess to care about humanity's health while they ride roughshod over the well-being and concerns of their neighboring brothers and sisters." Mr. King is one of the plaintiffs in a civil-rights lawsuit to stop construction in the South End community, which consists predominantly of people-of-color, and speaks on behalf of the Taskforce to Oppose the BU Biolab within the Green-Rainbow Party (GRP), the Massachusetts affiliate of the national Green Party. According to the GRP, the two major parties continue their long practice of ignoring those people most at risk in our society while hypocritically pledging allegiance to "liberty and justice for all." GRP co-chair Wendy Van Horne pointedly asks: "If the biolab is so noble in its goals of employment opportunities and of researching cures for the incurable, then why isn't it placed in a suburb where the researchers most likely to work there can live nearby?" In answer, Van Horne continued, "The reason is obvious and shameful. This lab is being cynically placed where nearby schools serve children of color, where nearby senior residences house citizens of color, where the convenience to universities is more important then the convenience and safety of neighborhood workers and families, and where the touted financial benefits will go to the have-a-lots rather than the have-nots." The proposed lab, which will transport and hold some of the world's most dangerous pathogens, is one of several being proposed nationwide to double the current number. Ron Francis, GRP co-chair, pointed out that this over-capacity in such labs "is fiscally irresponsible, environmentally lethal, and socially unconscionable. The government should not be misspending its resources and gambling with the lives of the people they should be representing. We urge all fair-minded people to support State Representative Gloria Fox's state legislation to regulate such labs and to express their opposition to U.S. Congressman Capuano, U.S. Senator Kennedy, and Boston Mayor Menino." (END) |
|||||||||||||||