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Asian Biosafety Practices Fall Short of International Standards

14 Aug 2006 - A report recently released by Sandia National Laboratories shows that researchers in 16 Asian countries often use insufficient biosafety practices. Biosafety Level (BSL) 2 practices are often employed for research involving BSL 3 agents. Nearly two-thirds of respondents investigating Japanese encephalitis, avian influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) - which are all BSL 3 agents - perform their research under BSL 2 specifications.
 
This report was produced under contract by BioInformatics, LLC. BioInformatics used its research expertise to create this report on Asian biosafety and biosecurity research practices in support of Sandia National Laboratories'' Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Department.
 
For this report, BioInformatics surveyed 300 scientists to assess the current practices employed in studying infectious agents by laboratories located in 16 Asian countries - segmented by the level of biotechnological sophistication.

Further information: http://www.biosecuritycodes.org/docs/Asia%20summary%20SAND%20report%20final.pdf