Biosecurity Measures in Laboratories

Research on life sciences is often focused improving the health of animals, humans and plants, as well as providing proper response against distinctive infectious diseases. Biosecurity essentially refers to the range of measures that are undertaken for the purpose of preventing the introduction or stopping the spread of harmful organisms to plant, human and animal life. There are many trained and qualified professionals who work in the domain of biosafety and biosecurity, including Martin Lloyd Sanders. He currently serves as the Director of Safety, Environmental Compliance and Emergency Management for Federal Occupational Health.

The key goal of biosecurity is to protect human health, as well as both protect and increase agriculture produce with the assistance of diverse techniques for management, control and prevention of biological risk factors. Biosecurity also puts emphasis on protecting against acts of bioterrorism. It can contribute to the prevention of adverse biosecurity events and provide advice on adequate interventions and changes that must be adopted by discerning government regulatory agencies. Martin Lloyd Sanders himself is the Chief Scientist for the U.S. Public Health Service.  Biosecurity measures typically are a combination of systems and processes that have been put in place by distinctive agricultural managers, customs agents and bioscience laboratories in order to prevent the use of toxins and dangerous pathogens.

Pathological agents can be grown, handled, stored and collected in various types of laboratories. This includes clinical laboratories, production facilities, research centers, diagnostic facilities and public health laboratories. All of such facilities tend to be at a risk of diverse types of biosecurity incidents. “Biorisk” refers to the risk linked with infectious agents and biological substances. Biorisk assessments are commonly carried out for the purpose of identifying the unacceptable and acceptable levels of these risks.  Methods used for the purpose of managing the various types of bio-risks are pretty crucial to research.  Reduction of such biorisks involves sharing of both advice and expertise in regards to the training and guidance needed for distinguished disease agents to be controlled and handled in a safe manner. There are a host of non-legislated guidelines that help in setting the standard of behavior or conduct in respect to a certain biological activity. Both individuals and organizations are to agree to abide by such guidelines voluntarily.  “Biohazard” is a term that refers to a biological substance that poses a risk to heath, especially to human health.

Laboratory biosecurity largely includes the responsibility and accountability of controlling and protecting biological materials within the facility.  It puts emphasis on the theft, loss, misuse, unauthorized access, as well as intentional exposure or release of the biological material.  There can be many examples of biological materials that might need high degree of stringent management, including toxins and pathogens. Laboratory biosecurity would also involve the protection of non-pathogenic organisms like genetic elements, ell components, vaccines and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Detailed insight into biosecurity can be found on the web.