US announces rules for potential bioterror agents
24 Sep 2014 by Sara Reardon
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2014/09/us-announces-rules-for-potential-bioterror-agents.html
A long-awaited US government policy on biological research that could be used for terrorism or other nefarious purposes is little changed from a draft released 19 months ago, despite receiving 38 comments from institutions and researchers concerned that it goes either too far or not far enough. The centrepiece of the policy, released on 24 September, is a set of guidelines for researchers working on 15 specific pathogens or toxins. But the rules do not regulate experiments that engineer pathogens not on the list to make them more deadly – so-called gain-of-function research. Officials from the White House and US National Institutes of Health (NIH) say the government will be addressing these concerns in coming weeks.
The rules apply only to labs that receive government funding. All institutions are required to register with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if they are using one of a longer list of “select agents” defined by the government. But experiments that would, for instance, make a pathogen not on the list more dangerous “would be outside the scope of the current framework,” Patterson says.
Such experiments would include the controversial creation of a mutant flu virus that is deadlier and more transmissible between animals.
Possible dangers include not just misuse but unintentional releases of pathogens. In two recent incidents at the CDC, H5N1 virus was accidentally shipped to a lab instead of a harmless virus, and dozens of workers were potentially exposed to anthrax.
Safety lapses in US government labs spark debate
Head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pledges ‘comprehensive, sweeping change’ after incidents involving influenza and anthrax.
Sara Reardon
16 July 2014
https://www.nature.com/news/safety-lapses-in-us-government-labs-spark-debate-1.15570
The move, announced today by CDC director Thomas Frieden, comes after the agency revealed in recent weeks that staff members were potentially exposed to anthrax and unintentionally shipped H5N1 influenza virus to another government laboratory. The incidents are part of a larger pattern of safety violations documented in reports from the CDC and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), prompting “the comprehensive, sweeping change in our lab culture we’re now implementing”, Frieden told a US House of Representatives committee.