Board of Health Reviews New Biosafety Regulations

The Revere Board of Health held its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, October 27, in the City Council Chambers.

The chairperson, Dr. Drew Bunker, and fellow members Dr. Craig Costanza and Nezha Louaddi were on hand for the meeting, as well as Lauren Buck, the Director of Public Health; Michael Wells, the Health Agent/Director of Inspectional Services; and Paula Sepulveda, the board’s Administrative Assistant.

The board took the first step toward promulgating updated biosafety regulations, a move necessitated by the anticipated life sciences buildings that will be located in the Suffolk Downs develop.m.ent, with an initial review of draft regulations that had been put together by Buck and Claire Inzerillo, a Policy Writer & Analyst with the City Solicitor’s office.

Ms. Inzerillo, who made an excellent and thorough presentation of the proposed regulations over the course of the next 30 minutes, told the board that the draft regulations were based on similar regulations in Peabody, Beverly, Boston, and Cambridge, which have hosted life sciences industry facilities for a number of years.

Some of the other aspects of the new regulations highlighted by Inzerillo were:

— Revere will continue to prohibit animal testing and allow only Level 1 and 2 biosafety facilities, which are the least-dangerous (as opposed to Level 3 and 4 facilities);

— The new regulations specifically will exempt clinical and professional healthcare service facilities, pharmacies, and high school labs; 

— Inzerillo explained that the definition of regulated biological agents is derived from the federal regulations and noted that there is a significant overlap of most local and state regulations with the federal regulations;

— Regarding the issue of institutional governance, each company will be responsible for establishing a committee that oversees  compliance with local, state, and federal regulations, and the committee must include a representative from the local Health Department and a local community resident who is an expert on biosafety. Inzerillo emphasized that the life sciences industry has previous experience with the requirements of regulations such as these because they are federally-mandated; and

— The Board of Health will have to determine the fees for permit applications and annual renewals, as well as fines for violations.

Wells added that there should be mandatory inspections by the city twice per year.

Finally, Inzerillo noted that HYM, the developer of Suffolk Downs, has agreed both to the prohibition on animal testing and the restriction on tenants in its life sciences buildings to those who will operate only Level 1 and 2 biosafety laboratories.

The board’s next step in the process will be to hold a public hearing on the proposed regulations at its next meeting 

Prior to the discussion on the new biosafety regulations, Buck presented her monthly communicable disease report. She told the board that there were six confirmed cases of influenza in October, with the patients ranging in age from three to 80, which she said is typical.

“However,” said Buck, “we expect these numbers to rise in the coming months. It is important that everyone gets a flu shot.”

She also said there were two confirmed cases of Legionnaires Disease in the city and that Ebola has arisen again in Africa. Though there have been no confirmed Ebola cases in the U.S., federal authorities are taking precautions for U.S.-bound travelers from Uganda.

As for COVID, Buck said that both the daily average and the positivity rate have shown slight decreases in October compared to September.

Inspectional Services Dept. (ISD) Director Wells presented the ISD’s statistics for the month which included: the issuance of 96 certificates of fitness for occupancy, 19 reinspections for certificates of fitness; 23 interior complaints that were submitted; seven interior complaint reinspections; two pool inspections; two lodging house inspections; 48 food inspections, including the Revere school cafeterias; two food complaint inspections; and five pre-opening inspections for new establishments.

The ISD issued 472 citations for violations of the city’s trash ordinance, three citations for improper signage on public property, 13 citations for improper storage of garbage and trash, 13 citations for junk car keeps/improper storage of automobiles, one for a rodent complaint, and 13 citations for violating the city’s overgrowth regulations.

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