Biosafety
Working with biological materials does have inherent risks, and laboratory incidents will happen – the goal is to minimize risks to laboratory personnel, the community and the environment - David Gillum
image by: United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
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To protect from lab leaks, we need ‘banal’ safety rules, not anti-terrorism measures
Biological materials are almost never “leaked,” “released,” or “stolen.” Instead, pathogens and toxins walk out of laboratories across the globe because the required safety protocols are compromised or not followed at all. They leave the lab inadvertently, attached to the researcher working with or near the material.
There is no intrigue in that, no conspiracy or evil genius, only the banality of failing to enforce and follow existing procedures for accessing, handling, and storing biological matter. That may mean forgetting to wipe down a lab bench, using improper glove techniques, not wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment, or not cleaning equipment properly. These…
Resources
Biosafety Levels 1, 2, 3 & 4: What’s the Difference?
Biological safety levels — often abbreviated to biosafety levels or BSL — are a series of protections specific to autoclave-related activities that take place in biological labs. Biosafety levels are individual safeguards designed to protect laboratory personnel, as well as the surrounding environment and community.
Biosafety Reforms Still Lagging at Military Labs
Efforts to reform the government’s approach to biological security came on the heels of lab safety lapses at other agencies as well. Six vials of smallpox virus, discovered at a lab at the National Institutes of Health in 2014, were believed to have been stored there for 50 years. The samples were quickly destroyed.
Biosafety: crucial in the fight against pandemics
Biosafety is a complex discipline which is not devoid of dangers. That is why it is so crucial to have a set of rules and barriers prevent biological hazards derived from exposure to infectious biological agents.
Making Sense of Biological Safety Levels
The level indicates the amount of protection needed for safe operations. Each biosafety level builds upon the previous standard to provide an ascending degree of safety for personnel and the environment.
Reporting all biosafety errors could improve labs worldwide – and increase public trust in biological research
Biosafety and biosecurity professionals have been discussing this topic for a long time, including at a U.S. Trans-Federal Task Force on Optimizing Biosafety and Biocontainment and by a Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel. But to make a centralized reporting system a reality, key players will need to commit and act. They include governments, international agencies, industry partners and the scientific community.
What It's Like To Handle The Nastiest Pathogens As Your Day Job
Pandemic flu, Ebola, Nipah virus. Emmie de Wit has held all of them in her hands (with three layers of gloves in between, of course).
To protect from lab leaks, we need ‘banal’ safety rules, not anti-terrorism measures
The escape of SARS-CoV-2 from a research laboratory in Wuhan, China, continues to circulate as a viable and popular explanation for the pandemic’s origin. But by accepting the lab-leak hypothesis, leaders may mistakenly seek new policy solutions or focus on tenuous yet alluring proposals about biosecurity, including high-tech means of enforcing restricted access. We believe that such actions would be ineffective and costly diversions from the core issue of institutionalizing existing and effective biohazard protocols.
CDC
Biosafety is the application of safety precautions that reduce a laboratorian’s risk of exposure to a potentially infectious microbe and limit contamination of the work environment and, ultimately, the community.
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