A History of the American Biological Safety Association Part I: The First Ten Biological Safety Conferences 1955–1965

Abstract

were discussing how to manage better the extensive correspondence and telephone conversations on safety issues among the three BW laboratories, the idea of a conference emerged as a collective thought. The idea was quickly ratified by the safety directors at the three BW installations as the perfect vehicle for sharing safety information. Due to the nature of the work conducted at the BW laboratories, papers presented at the conference would have to be cleared in advance by security officers and attendance would be restricted to persons with secret clearances. These restrictions were considered at the time a small burden in contrast to the enormous benefit that would be gained from sharing common experiences and collaboratively reolving important safety problems.

Biosafety and Biosecurity in Containment: A Regulatory Overview

“…Simultaneously, also the US Biological Warfare (BW) program led to innovations in biosafety practices, which were shared at annual conferences starting from 1955 onwards. Although initially restricted to BW laboratories, in the sixties the audience was soon broadened to institutes and agencies involved in health and biomedical research, much to the benefit of their employees and public health (Barbeito and Kruse, 1997 ; Kruse and Barbeito, 1997a , b ).…”

A Brief History of Biocontainment

“…In this paper, we will briefly discuss laboratory biocontainment before focusing on clinical biocontainment, or HLCC, the latter consisting of two components: definitive care and transport to that care. In 1951, Pike and Sulkin published one of the first surveys of laboratory-acquired infection [9], and in 1955, at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick), Maryland, the first meeting of what would later become the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) was held [10]. In 1964, Arnold Wedum, Director of Health and Safety at the Fort Detrick-based Army Biological Laboratory (ABL), drawing upon ABSA discussions, published some of the earliest comprehensive guidance on microbiologic safety, offering recommendations on protocols and procedures, laboratory construction and equipping, the employment of biosafety cabinets, animal handling and caging, and other facility and personnel safeguards [11].…”