biosafety News | Environmental XPRT

Biosafety Labs And The Meaning Of Biosafety Levels

A biosafety lab is a specialized research laboratory that deals with infectious agents. Some are designed for research, while others are performing some kind of production activity, but proper protection is of the utmost importance for the safety of everyone working in and around a biosafety lab. Protection is not only important for those working in a building with a biosafety lab, but also for ...

Sep. 25, 2016

By Camfil Ltd

A layered approach to biosafety in Southern Africa

A layered and cooperative approach would help Southern African countries harmonise their biosafety laws, says Julius Mugwagwa. African countries have debated the pros and cons of modern biotechnologies for the best part of two decades. For Southern Africa, the debate changed fundamentally with the 2002–2003 food emergency. The region had faced food emergencies before, but this crisis posed an ...

Jun. 16, 2009

By SciDev.Net

Thousands gather for meeting on UN-backed treaty on biosafety

More than 3000 participants from 147 countries have assembled in Bonn, the former German capital, for the start of a week-long meeting on how to improve their commitments to ensuring the safe use of modern biotechnology as outlined under a United Nations-backed treaty. The fourth meeting of the parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, itself a supplementary agreement to the Convention on ...

May 12, 2008

By United Nations

Meeting puts socioeconomic impact on biosafety agenda

An international treaty meeting on biosafety has recommended to include the socioeconomic aspects of living modified organisms (LMOs) along with scientific research on their impact on health and ...

Oct. 8, 2012

By SciDev.Net

Biosafety meeting `must address GM insects`

International rules drawn up for genetically modified (GM) crops must be altered as soon as possible to deal with GM insects that will start emerging from labs soon, according to a researcher. While the 2003 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety — an international agreement to protect biodiversity from the risks of GM organisms (GMOs) — also applies to GM mosquitoes, it was formulated with ...

Oct. 7, 2010

By SciDev.Net

Nigeria`s Senate passes biosafety bill

Nigeria's national biosafety bill has been passed by the country's upper house. The Senate agreed earlier this month (1 June) that the bill should be harmonised with a version passed by the lower chamber in July 2009. Supporters of genetically modified (GM) crop technology recently expressed ...

Jun. 14, 2011

By SciDev.Net

CSIRO/Gordon TAFE partner-up to boost biosafety

Signed in Geelong, the agreement is the first step towards establishing a specialised international bio-containment training course for people working in, or seeking to work in the two highest designated biosafety level laboratories – BSL3 and BSL4. According to AAHL Director, Dr Martyn Jeggo, the need for high-level bio-containment training is mounting rapidly as global outbreaks of emerging ...

Aug. 6, 2009

By CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Nigerian biosafety bill may fail, say scientists

Supporters of genetically modified (GM) crop technology fear that their four-year effort to get a biosafety bill enacted in Nigeria may have been in vain if the country's upper house fails to pass it before its tenure ends next month (29 May). The 2007 bill, passed by the country's lower chamber last July, is ...

Apr. 26, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Africa`s biosafety regulators urged to strengthen links

In efforts to harmonise national biosafety regulations across Africa, the links between national regulatory authorities and key stakeholders must be strengthened, say experts at the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE). Many of the continent's science and agriculture ministers endorsed the use of biotechnology to ...

May 29, 2012

By SciDev.Net

Participants at UN-backed meeting agree to work towards rules on biosafety

More than 2,000 participants attending a week-long biosafety meeting have agreed to work towards legally binding rules for liability and redress for potential damage caused by the movements of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports. The participants at the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, held in ...

May 18, 2008

By United Nations

Defense Threat Reduction Agency and U.S. Strategic Command select CH2M for $35M biosafety and biosecurity contract

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency and United States Strategic Command Center for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction (DTRA/SCC-WMD) have selected CH2M to lead efforts in West Africa to broaden its Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) on the African continent and reduce the threat of infectious diseases. The CBEP, developed by the Department of Defense to address global health ...

Nov. 14, 2016

By CH2M Hill Companies, Ltd.

New OECD Brochure illustrates how Work on using Manufactured Nanomaterials sustainably in Tyres contributes to Green Growth

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has released a brochure entitled Green growth: chemical safety and biosafety(link is external). In it the organisation explains that ‘innovation through emerging and converging technologies (such as biotechnology and nanotechnology) ...

Jul. 8, 2014

By Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA)

GM chickens: a solution for bird flu?

Genetically modified (GM) chickens could help stop transmission of bird flu, which first emerged in 1996 in China and has since killed or caused the culling of millions of chickens worldwide. Since making a jump to humans in 1997, bird flu has also killed over 300 people. It remains one of the diseases with a potential to cause a pandemic and is a major drawback for the poultry industry, ...

Jan. 13, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Webinar: Volatile Chemicals and Class II Type A2

Volatile chemicals, while typically used in a fume hood, may sometimes be used in conjunction with biological experiments which often require the use of a biosafety cabinet (BSC). New methods for determining safe levels of these chemicals in "recirculated" BSCs are now possible thanks to Baker's own Science Director, Kara Held, Ph.D. Baker has derived a ...

Nov. 16, 2016

By The Baker Company

GM mosquito wild release takes campaigners by surprise

Experts in the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month — a year after their initial release. The trial of the OX513A strain of the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito, developed by UK biotechnology company Oxitec, was carried out on ...

Nov. 10, 2010

By SciDev.Net

Synthetic biology: built-in barriers could prevent interactions with natural biology

A recent analysis highlights advances in the field of synthetic biology and efforts to develop approaches that will prevent non-natural organisms from interfering with natural organisms and ecosystems. It suggests that synthetic organisms could be developed with inbuilt ‘firewalls’ that prevent genetic interactions with other organisms. Synthetic biology is a rapidly emerging ...

Oct. 24, 2012

By European Commission, Environment DG

Nagoya 2010: UNEP chief addresses opening of Biodiversity summit

Delegates from across the world have gathered in Nagoya, Japan for the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) summit. Governments are meeting to discuss progress on biodiversity targets, as set by parties to the convention in 2002. The Nagoya summit will also consider adopting new set of targets for 2020 that aim to tackle biodiversity loss. Remarks by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and ...

Oct. 17, 2010

By United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Malaysia follows Caymans with surprise GM mosquito trial

Malaysia became the second country in the world to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes into the wild in a trial whose timing has surprised international and local scientists as well as protesters. The country's Institute for Medical Research announced this week (26 January) that around 6,000 GM male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes had been released at an uninhabited, forested site in the inland ...

Jan. 27, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Panama Breaking New Ground on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Environmental sustainability is gaining traction on Panama's political agenda. The announcement of the upgrade of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) to ministerial status is being followed by a public debate on how to better integrate environmental considerations into public policies. With presence in Panama since 2007, UNEP, as the leading global environmental authority, is well ...

Sep. 18, 2014

By United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Preparation for EU Environment Council, 3 March 2008

The first Environment Council under the Slovenian presidency will take place in Brussels on 3 March 2008. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will represent the European Commission. The Council will hold policy debates on the Climate Action and Renewable Energy (CARE) package presented by the Commission in January and the proposed Regulation to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars. It is also ...

Feb. 28, 2008

By EU Council of Ministers

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