City Hears Debate on Biogen Plans

Citing the danger of "biological pollution," several city residents last night urged officials to block the proposed construction of a private recombinant DNA research and development facility in East Cambridge.

Walter Gilbert '53, American Cancer Society Professor of Biochemistry and recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, however told members of the city's biohazards committee that the research and small scale manufacturing at the facility proposed by Biogen, Inc., would be safe.

The two sides squared off for three hours in the city council chambers, testifying before a meeting of the biohazards subcommittee which will make a recommendation to the city on the Biogen case sometime in the next few weeks.

"Every mother in East Cambridge is very frightened," Mary Nicolaro, a resident of that area, told the committee, adding that if recombinant DNA research was to be done facilities should be built in isolated areas where potential release of harmful materials would do less damage.

"How in good conscience can we allow houses next to this manufacturing plant?" Nicolaro asked.

Citing the lack of mandatory regulations over non-institutional DNA research, city resident Sheldon Krimsky urged Cambridge officials to adopt a licensing procedure to insure compliance with National Institute of Health guidelines for DNA work.

But Gilbert, who is on Biogen's board of directors, and Andre Muller, a Biogen executive, told the committee that they would abide by the NIH guidelines, adding that in some ways the work slated for the Biogen facility was less risky than research conducted at Harvard and MIT.

"The research in such a company focuses on practical problems, while university research is more basic and wider ranging," Gilbert said, adding that "applications of research are what such a company is all about."

Muller said the facility, which would be built on Binney St. in East Cambridge, for the most part plans work at the low-level P-1 and P-2 containment levels, with only one research room designed for higher level P-3 experimentation.

City councilor Alfred E. Vellucci said he would submit an ordinance banning all P-3 work by private firms, a statute Muller said would require a "reassessment" of the company's plan for Cambridge.

"If we feel the city would not like us to locate in Cambridge, we will go elsewhere," Muller said, adding that the company has only a "preference" for Cambridge and that there are other options available for the facility's location