Recent News

By Category: Biosafety

CDC Refuses to Identify “Select Agent” Sites

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. government is not obligated to disclose the names or placement of facilities that manage dangerous disease materials, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told activists in Maryland on Tuesday. The United States as of March 1 had 365 sites listed as handling or delivering potentially harmful substances designated Read More »

March 16, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Synthetic Biology Brouhaha

(Genetic Engineering News) Earlier this week the environmental group Friends of the Earth released a report entitled “Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology.” Twenty pages long, the report established seven principles “to safeguard public health and the environment …

March 16, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Biotechnology, and Research
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111 Organizations Call for Synthetic Biology Moratorium

(Science AAAS) Synthetic biology needs more oversight, and the government needs to put in place regulations specific for this field. That is the bottom line for 111 environmental, watchdog, and other organizations that released a report today with specific recommendations for managing new biological techniques for building and remaking organisms for research and commercial uses Read More »

March 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Biotechnology, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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The bioterrorism threat and laboratory security

(Homeland Security Newswire) Leonard A. Cole, an expert on bioterrorism and on terror medicine who teaches at Rutgers University, investigates the security of U.S. high containment labs in light of the dramatic growth in the number of these labs, which handle dangerous pathogens, following 9/11 and the anthrax attacks.

March 13, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Accident Reports Double at Army Biodefense Site

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Army’s flagship biodefense research facility noted in excess of 200 accidents in 2010 and 2011, nearly double the number it recorded for the prior two years, the Fredrick News-Post reported on Sunday. An alteration last July to record-keeping standards produced the higher quantity of documented errors, according to an e-mail Read More »