Secret biowarfare lab on Hanson Place

dailyheights

This is freaking me out:

http://www.dailyheights.com/archives/1007

“Shortly after that, more workers in the lab began to die. They just packed up quickly and moved out. The howling of the monkeys fell silent. We assumed they took them all with them, but we were disturbed to see them bring out human and animal body bags from the building and put them in two different vehicles.”

“… Ask anyone from Fort Greene who was here before the gentrification and they will tell you about the painful blood curdling screams that erupted every night from 80 Hanson Place, echoing down to 4th Avenue on a quiet night…”

jack krohn

Bio-warfare reserach lab? Ha! Ha! A search of the New York Times archives reveals that 80 Hanson Place was a narcotics research lab operated by the New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services. As recently as October 21, 1984, they were advertising for a toxicology lab supervisor. I'm sure the biohazard crew was called in for a legitimate, chemically-related reason. From the photos, it's impossible to tell what they are carrying as they exit the building. Maybe those screams were from staff members who were sampling the products that they were supposed to be testing?

And, please, enough with the insinutations that AIDS is germ warfare. When personal responsibility plays a paramount role in protecting oneself, adopting an external locus of control hardly saves lives.

pete_c

Those guys were wearing bomb disposal suits, not hazmat gear. Hazmat in NYC is almost always handled by the FDNY.

metulj

Jack Krohn wrote:
And, please, enough with the insinutations that AIDS is germ warfare. When personal responsibility plays a paramount role in protecting oneself, adopting an external locus of control hardly saves lives.

AIDS is not biowarfare: true. Being a hemophiliac and contracting HIV has shit little to do with "personal resposibility." Being a Botswanan baby who caught it from his mother via breastfeeding has shit little to do with it either. Hell, his mother got it via an "male rejuvenation ceremony" that requires two things: a hymen and ancient folk traditions and that has shit little to do with "personal responsibility." Who the fuck are you? Ralph Reed?

sweet tea

metulj wrote: [quote=Jack Krohn]
And, please, enough with the insinutations that AIDS is germ warfare. When personal responsibility plays a paramount role in protecting oneself, adopting an external locus of control hardly saves lives.

AIDS is not biowarfare: true. Being a hemophiliac and contracting HIV has shit little to do with "personal resposibility." Being a Botswanan baby who caught it from his mother via breastfeeding has shit little to do with it either. Hell, his mother got it via an "male rejuvenation ceremony" that requires two things: a hymen and ancient folk traditions and that has shit little to do with "personal responsibility." Who the fuck are you? Ralph Reed?

all of that is true, metulj. but in defense of jack: most new infections in the US could be prevented by behavior change. this is not to assign "blame" or "fault" to those who become infected -- who among us has not engaged in unsafe behavior at one time or other? those who are unlucky are not less "good". (and, of course, since the most common means of infection is psychologically fraught, it's optimistic to expect that safe behavior always be a straightforward and automatic choice.) but while superstitious beliefs about a racially assymetrical epidemic are understandable given past government practice (tuskeegee, anyone?), the important thing is to empower people to feel in control of their own destinies, so that they will feel that their behavior makes a difference and therefore feel motivated to make safer choices. fatalism is not the most useful outlook to have/encourage/tolerate, and failure to confront that attitude is at best unhelpful, and possibly both condescending and deadly.

jack krohn

Yeesh, metulj, that's just the type of reaction I was referring to. Contracting HIV has PLENTY to do with personal responsibility, from sexual practices to drug use. Of course a baby has no control over contracting HIV and using such a blatant exception, as well as your hysterical tone of voice, does nothing to convince me to consider your viewpoint. When people continue to place themselves at risk by engaging in unsafe sex practices and shooting drugs, citing germ warfare theories only diverts attention from what needs to be done to protect oneself.

Ralph Reed? Ha! Ha! You're showing your age.

Personal responsibility? Just look at Uganda. But I'm sure that you'll find a way to dismiss that, as well.

Last time looking at this thread for me...