JAPAN:
Court Hears Fight Over Safety of Lab
Dennis Normile
TOKYO--Ten years after filing suit to block construction of a government laboratory, and 6 years after it opened for business, a retired professor and neighborhood activist last week argued before a Tokyo district court that the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in downtown Tokyo poses unacceptable health risks to residents and that its research should be halted. The institute disagrees. In a country where successful challenges to government institutions are rare, the case is being watched closely.