Biosafety and biorisk management are emerging areas of safety that are not well understood by the general public. With recent headlines questioning the safety practices and procedures at federal agencies, educating the public on what steps are taken to encourage a safe and transparent working environment in high-containment laboratories is important. This article describes for the ABSA International biosafety community, as well as for the general public, the biorisk program at the National Institutes of Health and discusses the steps taken to train researchers, report injuries, and encourage a culture of safety within the laboratories, rather than a culture of fear. It attempts to dispel the provocative headlines used by the media, through education on the process and procedures used to protect the researchers, as well as the public, when handling agents whose manipulation and propagation are restricted to high-containment laboratories. In doing so, the authors seek to better educate the public and help to create better awareness of the work that occurs in these facilities.
Micro-Chem Plus (MCP) detergent disinfectant cleaner is a common chemical disinfectant currently used at most biosafety level 4 laboratories to ensure proper disinfection and decontamination of waste contaminated with risk group 4 agents. However, similar to a number of disinfectants, MCP contains surfactants known as nonylphenol ethoxylates that are considered highly toxic to the aquatic environment. An alternate disinfectant, Earth Sense (ES) neutral disinfection detergent, was identified as one that lacks nonylphenol ethoxylates. This study compares the virucidal efficacy profiles of both MCP and ES using Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) as a surrogate for risk group 4 agents. Results indicate that a 5% solution of ES with a contact time of 5 minutes was comparable to 5% MCP solution and reduced VSV titer by at least 6 log 10 . In addition, both 5% solutions of ES and MCP disinfectants were stable for at least 5 months and were able to inactivate 6 log 10 of VSV. These results demonstrate that ES detergent may be a potential option to replace MCP as a suitable disinfectant against risk group 4 agents due to its comparable virucidal efficacy as well as its greener environmental profile.
Much confusion surrounds the practical application of Department of Commerce (DoC) export control regulations in biomedical research. Institutions must consider how to properly export potential dual-use commodities, be aware of instances when foreign nationals might require a validated deemed export license, and decide whether scientific activities qualify as fundamental research. The complexity of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) can make careful adherence a difficult challenge. The purpose of this article is to provide succinct guidance on how to successfully navigate the EAR with respect to biomedical research involving etiologic agents, foreign nationals, specialized equipment, and high-or maximum-containment laboratories. Although export compliance is always required, it is usually non-applicable to most of the aforementioned biomedical research endeavors.
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