X Annual Swedish Symposium on Biomedicine, Ethics and Society: Seglarhotellet, Sandhamn, 9-10 June 2008:
Dual Uses of Biomedicine: Whose responsibility?
Ingegerd Kallings, M.D. Senior Medical Officer, Biosafety Adviser, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control
Abstract of keynote presentation:
Biosafety and Biosecurity Governance in Life Science Research: Public health aspects; explaining the concepts and their relation; ethical relevance.
Biological agents are handled in laboratories for legitimate purposes e.g. public health, research and production of pharmaceuticals. Biosafety as described by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the containment principles, technologies and practices implemented to prevent unintentional exposure to pathogens, or their accidental release protecting laboratory staff, general public and the environment, whereas laboratory biosecurity deals with the protection, control and accountability for biological materials in order to prevent their loss, theft, misuse, diversion of, unauthorized access, or intentional release. National or regional control measures to prevent dissemination of biological agents and toxins with malevolent intent may be referred to as law enforcement biosecurity. Biosafety and biosecurity measures interact and a biosafety programme needs few extra measures to match up to a secure laboratory environment. Lately, managerial aspects have come into focus and a Laboratory Biorisk Management Standard has been developed. In addition to the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual many countries have national biosafety regulations and guidelines, in Europe based on EU Directives. International regulations for the safe transport of infectious substances have been in place since over 25 years. ´Codes of conduct´ for life science researcher are being developed arising from within the scientific community. The regulatory framework for a safe and secure handling of biological agents and toxins exists, but compliance needs to be improved. However, there are attempts from the law enforcement security bodies to instigate a ´fortress approach´ to bio-threats which might have detrimental effects on research and on public health. It is an obligation to safe-guard the right to exchange biological materials, technology and knowledge for research and public health purposes as well as the right to academic freedom.
