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From 2011.igem.org

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Safety concerns for researchers

Many of our protocols involve mutagenic, toxic and corrosive agents like Ethidium bromide, as well as physical mutagenic agents as UV radiation (complete list soon). To minimize the biological threat, we are encouraged to always wear laboratory coats and disposable nitrile gloves during the laboratory work. All the biological-hazardous waste resulting from the laboratory practices is disposed according to the Guidelines for Integral Solid Waste Management of the Medical and Occupational Health Department at the Universidad de los Andes.

Public Health

No human pathogenic strains of bacteria are going to be used in the current research; nevertheless the national directions regarding Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMOs) will be followed.

Environmental risks

Although the initial stages of our research are mainly laboratory-based, the goal is to implement our system directly in coffee plantations. Taken this into account, we’re planning to develop an strategy to build our bacterial-based detection system on organisms representing low-to-no risk for the normal microbiota of the plantations and innocuous for human consumption.