Excerpt

As with the committee’s April 2010 report, the statement of task for this letter report is as follows: "The NIH (National Institutes of Health) will engage the Committee on Technical Input on the NIH’s DSRASSA (Draft Supplementary Risk Assessment and Site Suitability Analyses) for the Boston University NEIDL (National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories) at key milestones during the development of a draft supplementary risk assessment. The NRC (National Research Council) and the NIH Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) will meet together in public to discuss the developing draft report. Information contained in the draft risk assessment may include data on agents, models, and scenarios; preliminary modeling results; and quantitative and qualitative assessments. Documents reviewed and discussed at these meetings will be made available to the public. Following each meeting with the BRP, the NRC Committee in closed session will prepare brief letter reports on the preliminary results of the supplementary risk analyses, focusing on whether the analyses are scientifically and technically sound in general and whether they address the public health concerns previously raised by the NRC in its review of the July 2007 DSRASSA. These letter reports will be made available to the public. The committee will also provide written comments on the draft supplementary risk assessment when that document is made available for formal public comment. The Committee will submit its findings in the form of a final letter report that will also be made available to the public."

Contents

• Letter from the National Academies to Dr. Francis Collins
• Acknowledgements
• Background and Introduction
  • Statement of Task for This Letter Report
• Committee Response and Findings
  • Use of a Delphi Process to Generate Dose-Response Relationships
  • Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analyses
  • Incompleteness of the Analyses and Lack of Documentation for Assumptions
  • Modeling
  • Vulnerable Populations
  • Use of Case Studies
  • Metrics
• Summary
• References
• Attachments
  • Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL
  • Attachment B NIH Blue Ribbon Panel to Advise on the Risk Assessment of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University Medical Center
  • Attachment C Comments on the Report “Expert Consultation on Infectiousness of Organisms Studied in the NEIDL Risk Assessment”