The controversy surrounding nerve gas testing at the Arthur D. Little (ADL) research laboratory erupted Thursday night, when company officials, debated local residents in a heated confrontation that lasted three hours.

With more than 250 residents of Belmont, Arlington and Cambridge looking on, four ADL representatives presented the firm's reasons for challenging a 1984 Cambridge ordinance which bans the testing, storage, and transportation of chemical warfare agents within city limits.

ADL Senior Vice President D. Reid Weedon told the audience that the Levins laboratory--where the testing is actually conducted under a contract with the Department of Defense--is probably "the best facility of its kind in the country" in terms of safety and security precautions.

In the event of an accident at ADL, according to Weedon, a puff of nerve gases released into the atmosphere outside the North Cambridge laboratory "would result in not one public fatality."

Weedon added that although several accidents have occurred in the 14 laboratories testing the nerve agents nationwide, there have been no reports of deaths due to mishaps.

Community Dissent

But members of the North Cambridge Toxic Alert Group, a grassroots organization concerned about hazardous substances in the environment, unleashed a slew of attacks upon ADL's motives and corporate credibility.

Countering ADL guarantees that the laboratory--located about two miles from the University--is safe for employees and neighborhood residents, Toxic Alert member Steve Schnapp showed slides of environmental disasters resulting from industrial accidents.

"We've heard these kinds of company assurances before," said Schnapp, citing broken promises of safety made by the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, the Babcock and Wilcox nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, and the Hooker Chemical Co. at Love Canal.

"Will North Cambridge be the next disaster on the 11 o'clock news?" Schnapp asked.

Sharon Moran said during Toxic Alert's 30-minute presentation that Cambridge is no place for a laboratory testing such hazardous substances, since the city is "one of the top five most densely populated in the U.S."

Weighing Risks

Emphasizing the potential benefits of chemical warfare research to medicine and the armed forces, Weedon said society would lose out on scientific research banned by municipalities.

Claiming that no federal or state inspector has ever raised serious questions about the safety of the ADL laboratory. Weedon said that Cambridge police and fire officials, as well as the city manager, were all notified of the testing one year in advance.

"In October of 1983, the Cambridge health commissioner [Melvin Chalfen] inspected the lab and allowed five months to elapse before taking any action, said Weedon, adding that Chalfen declared ADL's testing unsafe last March because of political pressure from the city council.