We attended a poorly advertised "meet and greet" session with the consortium backing the lab comprisinfg of the Wellcome Trust, the MRC, UCL, CRUK and the NIMR.
Not many people attended and the security outnumbered everybody in the community centre where it was held. There were plain clothes police all over the estate quite openly watching everybody.
The people who did attend included Camden councillors who are against the lab. Roger Robinson ward councillor for where the lab is proposed for [Somers Town] has attended many meetings and told them that local people are unanimously against the lab.
One rep said in response to the fact that hardly anyone knew about the lab / meet and greet : "Well we did dump some leaflets off down near the shop where the community go."
Most of the councillors spoken to about it are against it.
The British Transport Police had not been consulted or informed about the lab at all. In fact they at first thought that they had been pranked [!] when they were told about the lab. In the event of a virus leak they would have to evacuate or quarantine the area....this is frightening.
We wrote to Islington council who had not been told either. The lab is very close to the border of Camden / Islington.
Helia Evans is the secretary for the residents association and has put in deputations and requests regarding the site since 2003. The public were only told about the sale of the land between the DCMS and the MRC [£85million] weeks before it went ahead. The MRC was then criticised at government level over funding discrepancies.
The council's own planning brief calls for 50% social housing. The lab will not build any houses, social or otherwise.
Ther have ebeen a number of articles wriiten by the Camden New Journal and many local people and councillors have written to the Journal.
The lab has also been criticised by the Guardian, the Evening Standard, thelondonpaper and the London Lite where it was described as The 28 Days Later Lab following a 28 Days Later theme on our myspace page {now closed and moved to Facebook}.
The backers behind the lab are the MRC, UCL, CRUK, Wellcome Trust and NIMR.
Scientists from the NIMR breached confidentiality to express fears around security and virus leaks to the Camden New Journal. MI5 leaked fears to the Evening Standard.
Other than these backers most people are opposed to the lab plans. All local people that we have spoken to are against it. However this doesn't stop the consortium from saying that local people will be "excited" once they realise that they will have a deadly virus lab on their doorsteps that could kill everybody, as in EVERYBODY.
Foot and Mouth disease was leaked from government facility Pirbright into the water supply causing nationwide destruction. Imagine if Bird Flu or anthrax were leaked? Or something just as dangerous? It is likely that the lab would be patrolled by armed police which no-one wants. Local people have held demos against the labs, only to be threatened by guards from the British Library [an ITN cameramn was attacked].
Please oppose by writing to
Camden Council
Judd Street
Camden
London
WC1
e-mail:
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