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Gun fears over Camden "Super Virus Lab"

Camden Against Danger Lab : Machine gun misdelivered & sniper / police fears | 19.12.2008 21:52 | Animal Liberation | Bio-technology | Social Struggles | South Coast | World

The Camden Gazette reported this week that a sniper from a council estate in Camden shot out the windows of an office block belonging to the Guardian newspaper, leaving massive holes in the windows. This week a police machine gun was accidentally sent to a granny. Armed police were found guilty of shooting innocent Brazilizn Jean Charles De Menezes. All this bodes badly for proposed Camden "Super Virus Lab".



there are plans to build a huge virus containment facility alongside St Pancras Eurostar behind the British Library on a Camden council house estate, by a consortium comprising of the MRC, NIMR, CRUK, UCL and Wellcome Trust.
This has been widely opposed by locals, councillors and MPs. MI5 leaked fears to the Evening Standard.
There are fears that armed police would patrol the estate as a result of the Super Virus Lab as a result leading to worries that innocent people could be shot by armed police, particulalry following a sniper attack from a Camden council estatte towards the Guardian's offices.
this week a police machine gun was wrongly delivered to ashocked granny when a couriwer made a postal error.
Imagine if a courier {who routinely take tissue samples to and from labs} accidentally delivered a sample of deadly anthrax or Bird Flu to Camden resident? It could happen.

This deadly virus lab does not yet have planning permission. Please oppose.

There is always a chance that human error could occur and that a virus leak could devastate not just the immediate area but could find it's wayinto the Channel Tunnel...

The plans themselves could even find their way into the "wrong" hands by mistake etc.

Please oppose planning permission on this dangerous lab idea.

The architects designing the lab are :

HOK International
214 -216 Oxford Street
London

The engineers are :

ARUP
8 Fitzroy Street
London

Adams Kara Taylor
2 Farringdon Road
Islington
London
EC1

The lab is widely opposed by locals and goes against Camden council's own planning brief that callls for 50% social housing. The consortium have admitted that they will build "no houses".

A second lab is also planned for Camden on the Hampstead Road...on the current site of the Margarete Centre that would close as a result, potentially meaning that Camden's 4,200 Class A drug addicts could be left without help following Frank dobson's statement that he oppese needle exchanges... the closure of the Margarete Cntre could therefor mean that these facilties would not be replaced.

The lab plans are ill thought out and haphazard. The British Transport Police who would have to deal with evacuation in the evnt of emergency were not even consulted or informed on this....whcih is terrifying.

The communities of Camden and Islington feel terrorized by the lab consortium.

This must be opposed.

You can oppose planning permission by writing to Camden Council.





Camden Against Danger Lab : Machine gun misdelivered & sniper / police fears

Comments

Hide the following 20 comments

Why arent the police protesting about this themselves! why do we have to

20.12.2008 00:52

always bloody do it. This is beyond noob, beyond crazy, provaction to humanity, good article, great bloody point. They say its safe, what about transfer of the virus material into central to london to be tested at the facility, theyve probably convinced most of mets finest seniors about how bullet proof the facility is, though of course accidents happen, but what about transportation through the most heavily congested city in Britian.

Dont call me scarface


exactly right and well said by don't call him scarface

20.12.2008 01:39

The police have written vague letters saying they are concerned about the lab but they are working for a government that is heavily funded by the pharmaceutical industry. When the British Transport Police have to knock on doors on council estates to find out from campaigners whether or not there is a "genuine concern" about the lab then it is time for ALL of us to get very, very concerned. As I've said before, if they didn't know what is going on at this stage, then what else won't they be told about this lab?

The newspapers etc have made alot of noise about protests by "animal rights extremist terrorists" and of course the idea of a combination of very angry Londoners and animal rights protesters who will join forces to protetst about the lab is a good reason to oppose planning permission, but the biggest threat comes from the lab itself...virus leaks for example and the very real threat that innocent people could become victims of trigger happy police, of bio hazards being transported through Camden and Islington and the thought of what would hsppen in an emergncy such as a pathogen leak which doesn't even bear thinking about.

London Against Camden Danger Lab
mail e-mail: camdendangerlabartscollective@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/londonagainstblisslab


funny...

20.12.2008 12:26

...how they want to build it in Camden and not somewhere full of rich people, like Henley or Kensington

grrrr


Tried to inform...

20.12.2008 13:17

... many people in AR but was told not to worry as it "won't go ahead", which as far as I'm concerned is bs! I knew this would happen, so why didn't people listen & help stop it BEFORE planning permission was got??!

Thanks for posting this, it CAN'T go ahead!!!

Policestate


...EXACTLY!!!!! ..also a word about "Animal Rights Extremist Terrorists"....

22.12.2008 18:50

I agree with that last point also. Worse still people were told "not to go on a demo" which turned out to be not just a demo but an onformative deputation and meeting at the Town Hall in Camden which was attended by local people and AR activists who stood side by side on the steps of the Town Hall.

We can't just "wait and see" and leave things until it is too late. Helia Evans {secratary for the Somers Town residents association} has said that is "going to take more than a cuople of councillors to stop this" and she is right. She has also said that she is looking forward to seeing groups such as Rhythms of Resistance and people from the Animal Rights at the Town Hall again for a demo. I've suggested that we also march from there to the British Library and down to the National Temperance site and back again, if she agrees.

Also a word about the "Animal Rights Extremist Terrorists" moniker....this has come from wild stories mostly in the Daily Mail. One such story is thus :

"Animal Rights Monsters Ruined My Marriage" - Daily Mail

A man from the pharmaceutical industry persuaded his wife that she should move out of the house saying that "animal rights extremist terrorists" had broken in, chopped all the heads off of their daffodils and that the SAS were coming to patrol the garden and that it was best that she left to stay with her mother.
She went to the Daily Mail and they printed this across two whole pages. Personally I think her husband was taking the piss somewhat...

Next time the Somers Town Devious Double Agent is telling the Somers Town Peoples forum that the Guradian, Camden New Journal, Evening Standard and London Lite and thelondonpaper "should not be read by them any more because they are guilty of sloppy journalism" because they voiced very real security fears around the lab, I suggest she reads this Daily Mail gem.

Other people who have been accused of "terrorism" are Keith Mann who was sent to prison for exposing illegal cosmetic Botox experiments and branded a "terrorist" for doing so. Mel Broughton was accused of having "bombs" which turned out to be sparklers left over from fireworks day. Mel had his home smashed to pieces by police over this....and was then remanded for months before being freed. The police leaked stories to the press saying that he had "incendiary devices / explosives" which became "bombs".
Another incident was when the police made out that "Animal Rights Extremist Terrorists" had "planted a bomb" in a courtroom and then locked everybody IN....with "the bomb", not just AR people...EVERYBODY. Obviously there was no bomb. {They also got caught plotting to use babies buggies with babies in, as part of a dirty war against AR activists}.

As for myself...apart from that unfortunate moment with the security men from Goldman Sachs everyone who knows me is aware that when confronted with the run away temper of a genuinely scary person I'm more likely to burst into tears and clear off for a while than respond with "extremist terrorism" .....this term is used pretty much tongue in cheek by Animal Rights campaigners....and real people know this. However this doesn't stop Middle England loving stories about the SAS saving their plants from "animal rights extremist terrorists" and the Daily Mail from indulging them. ....having said that, I do not underestimate the genuine and growing anger around this particular lab and I fear that this campaign is going to be like no other....I just hope that it does not get planning permission for so many reasons. .....

London Against Camden Danger Lab {dont call me the "Mad Woman"}
mail e-mail: camdendangerlabartscollective@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/londonagainstblisslab


...by the way, no-one is threatening to shoot anyone involved in the lab.

23.12.2008 23:15

Just so this is clear, no-one who wrote any of this is threatening to shoot anyone from the lab or the people involved in designing it. The point is that it it is a very ill thought out idea that the area simply doesn't need and should be opposed.

Mandy & Steven - London Against Camden Danger Lab
mail e-mail: camdendangerlabartscollective@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/londonagainstblisslab


..and another thing - to the person I ask to write things for me....

23.12.2008 23:27

I know I asked you to write something for me on here {i.e. the above} but please be a bit more careful next time with how you write it......thanks - Mandy x

Mandy - London Against Camden Danger Lab
mail e-mail: camdendangerlabartscollective@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/londonagainstblisslab


Heavy traffic on the estate and building...we've already suffered

24.12.2008 01:57

People on the estates around the Brill Place site have already suffered enough with the building of the rail link. More building from something so unpopular is the last straw. Why can't they build something that is for the community, anything, housing, community facilites like a sports centre or even a leisure complex, entertainment, anything but a dangerous "viral holding centre" that poses a threat to everybody living near here. We will have heavy lorries, dust, noise, more builders, haevy plant machinery and the finally a hideous, unwanted lab that no-one around here wants.
Anyone that has seen what can happen when things go wrong with these places won't want it. Why can't they put it where some of these boffins live? They wouldn't.

dont call me Gaylord


What about the CHILDREN on the estate, armed police will patrol this lab site!

24.12.2008 02:20

What about the kids who live on the estate who will have no choice but to play near armed police patrolling the lab? Why can't something be built for them instead?
How would the Ivory Tower decision makers like it if their kids had to live and play next to something so dangerous? And what if, just IF an armed police officer mistakes a child playing with a toy gun for someone holding the real thing...? OPPOSE THIS LAB!

dont call me anything


To "Policestate" the lab doesn't have planning permission yet. Write to Camden.

24.12.2008 02:34

The lab doesn't yet have planning permission. Write, phone or email Camden Council and oppose planning permission. I agree that more should have been done by now. Unfortunately a decsion was made by the top tier of animals rights activists that "nothing was to be done" until they go for planning permission.
....But a demo was held by locals, London Against Camden Danger Lab and AR people. Thankfully people did in fact go and it was a good one.

Well done to Mandy and co for organising it and bothering to do SOMETHING rather than nothing.

There is a really good photo in the Camden New Journal.

Question. When is anyone else going to do anything? Are you just going to leave it until the lab is built like Oxford?

dont call me on the phone


..couriers are well known for having traffic accidents....

24.12.2008 10:27

What if one of these couriers is carrying Bird Flu or anthrax through Kings Cross to this lab? This lab is an extremely stupid idea and should be opposed.

dont call out to couriers carrying deadly viral packages


Flu epidemic on way ...imagine if Bird Flu got out of the "28 Days Later Lab"

25.12.2008 15:38

The UK is in the grip of the worst flu epidemic for 10 years. People are being told not to call ambulances which are being backed up as a result. People are on trolleys in hospital corridors and operations are being cancelled. Last year 22,000 people died of flu.

The deadly proposed "28 Days Later" lab is likely to be level 3 facility containing Bird Flu.
Recent research shows that the flu epidemic of 1918 came from mutated bird flu. Forty million people died....this was in the days before the underground and the channel tunnel.

Please oppose planning permission for this. WHEREVER you live.

To oppose planning permission, contact Camden Council, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, Camden London WC1

dont call an ambulance in a flu pandemic


Although comments are jokey...the lab fears are no joke.

04.01.2009 06:56

Obviously while the comments following this article were written in a jokey manner the fears around the lab which should not be underestimated and should be taken very very seriously.

Samantha

Samanth Gorley-Barnes


The people of Camden are under threat from this lab / poor AND middle class.

05.01.2009 09:49


While some of these postings might seem inappropiate, it is a local people's campaign which means that everyone has the right to campign against the lab.
Some people might think that it's OK to put alb on a council estate where all the people "are benefit scum" or "probably crackheads" or whatever....which is unfortunately the attitude of the people who want to put the lab in Camden.
It should be pointed out that any virus leak wiil affect averyone in the area including middle class commuters.....

Michelle


Now on Facebook

05.01.2009 10:17

see our facebook pages

LACDL


Contact Camden Council

16.02.2009 20:41

contact Camden Council
Camden Town Hall
Judd Street
Camden
London
WC1

anon
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/stopcamdenanimallab


Steven Brennan is no longer in the campaign.

17.02.2009 03:26

Steven Brennan is no longer in this campaign in any capacity. He knows why.

Stop Camden Animal Lab
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/stopcamdenanimallab


Meeting tuesday 7th April. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BLISS-Lab

06.04.2009 00:47

There is a meeting Tuesday 7th April, Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1.
6 pm.

Stop Camden Animal Lab
mail e-mail: stopcamdenanimallab@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/stopcamdenanimallab


Meeting was cancelled.

15.04.2009 00:48

Sorry.

Mandy