Team:METU-Ankara/Safety

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SAFETY

In this section we considered and searched possible risks, safety and security concerns related to synthetic biology and our project. We analyzed safety in detail into two main titles. By taking photos and preparing enjoyable questionnaire, we emphasized the bio safety rules in laboratory and by referring to the articles of the authorities in Turkey, we summarized bio safety rules for public security.

BIO SAFETY IN LAB

Bio safety is defined as research protocols for work involving infectious agents, animal use, recombinant DNA and genetically modified materials. There should be a comprehensive safety policy, a safety manual, and supporting programmes for a laboratory organization. There are some potential risks of synthetic biology to human health because of the possible pathogenicity of the examined bacteria and gene transfer from a bacterium to another. We took into consideration the practices of the World Health Organization based on the microbiology risk assesment, laboratory equipment safety, and bio safety and recombinant DNA technology.

DO ANY OF THE NEW BIO BRICK PARTS OR DEVICES THAT WE CREATED THIS YEAR RAISE ANY SAFETY ISSUES?

No, our created and projected BioBricks do not pose any safety concerns.

DID OUR PROJECT IDEAS RAISE SAFETY ISSUES?

Researcher safety

Based on the good laboratory practices, while we are performing each step of our project, we wear lab coats, put on lab glasses and gloves to protect ourselves from the chemicals and masks when required.

Environmental safety

Since we are planning to use methane gas, to ensure both the environmental and researcher safety, we provide required equipments and laboratory conditions.

BIOSAFETY IN PUBLIC

Biosafety Commitee at METU

The Applied Ethical Research Center is founded in December 2000 to make the university and society be aware of ethical concerns,to give debating ability to pre-university and university students about ethical problems, to inform university students about right decision mechanisms, to introduce new lectures about ethical issues into undergraduate curriculum. By these purposes, the committee have hold many conferences about ethics and knowing yourself, the environmental ethics, the medicinal ethics, the media ethics and the working ethics.

The Human Research Ethical Comittee is a sub-comittee of The Applied Ethical Research Center. It deals with whether researchs which need human data are taken with respect to human rights and ethical principles.The comittee takes into consideration that people participated in a research must have rights to know who actually researchers are, what the purpose of research is, what the potential benefits and risks are, what to do actually as a participant. The attendee must be informed about that the research is entirely based on volunteerism and they have rights to quit from research whenever they want without any sanction.

The Biosafety Policy on Genetically Modified Organisms in Turkey

Information Obtain Right Law (4982 numbered) and the law regarding Consumer Protection (Law no 4077) are two laws which regard biosafety in Turkey. The food safety, health and environmental protection, and the rights of public institutions to be informed, are ensured by the relevant Information Obtain Right Law and Consumer Protection Law says that when the goods and services presented to consumers are dangerous for physical and psychological health or the environment, in order to use these products securely, explanatory information and warnings should be written on products or in their manuals. ( Baran, M. & Yılmaz, R.,2008). In addition to these laws, there is a committee named as The Supreme Council for Science and Technology (SCST) takes the role of being the highest ranking Science-Technology-Innovation policy-making body in Turkey. It was established to fulfill the functions like; to assist the government in the determination of long-term science and technology policies, to prepare related plans and programs, to assign tasks to public organs as well as to cooperate with the business enterprise sector in accordance with these plans and programs, to have bills and legislations prepared aiming to develop and increase the effectiveness of the science and technology system. (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, 2011). Beside these arrangements, there is no strict regulation about producing GMMOs. However, we try to follow worldwide biosafety rules as a team.

Project specific safety;

While we proceed the studies containing poisonous gas, we take into consideration the precautions of the researchers who have already studied with poisonous gases. We also use their equipments such as gas mask, glove box, eksik

1. Would the materials used in your project and/or your final product pose:

A.Risks to the safety and health of team members or others in the lab? While in cloning steps the most dangerous material that we used is ethidium bromide which is used in agarose gel electrophoresis. Ethidium bromide is a potential mutagen because it works by inserting itself between the two strands of double-stranded DNA. Since the amount of ethidium bromide kept in our lab is relatively small, it does not pose devastating effects.However it is a toxic chemical, when got in contact, it causes eye and skin irritation. To prevent the damages that we would be face with, we wraped it with aluminium and put in brown bottle and wore gloves while using. While device training experiments we used methane gas CH4 and methanol CH3OH. Methane is inactive biologically and essentially nontoxic.Methane is not listed in the IARC, NTP or by OSHA as a carcinogen or potential carcinogen. When inhaled in high concentrations, so as to exclude an adequate supply of oxygen to the lungs causes dizziness, deeper breathing due to air hunger, possible nausea and eventual unconsciousness. In case of protection, we progressed the steps with methane in glove boxes in order to provide the respiratory protection. The ventilation is supported by hood. And protective gloves and goggles are equiped.Out of the experiments for storage we saved the gas tank in are where is cool enough and never used open flames.REFERENCE: http://www.isocinfo.com/DocumentRoot/13/Methane.pdf . For the steps with methanol the characterization tests for LUSH protein, methanol is used. Methanol is hazardous in case of skin contact, eye contact, ingestion and inhalation. It is flammable liquid.The safety for this chemical is provided by experimenting in hood with high ventilation and and so much exposed because it pose a health risk to anyone in lab.

REFERENCE :

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927227

http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~nanoe/msds/methanol.pdf

Risks to the safety and health of the general public if released by design or accident?

The materials mentioned in part a. could potentially be dangerous to the general public. We use just enough concentration for our experiments. We always check the amount both for methane and methanol and EtBr, because if accidentally released, they could be dangerous to us while experiments and to lab security.

Risks to environmental quality if released by design or accident?

Since methane is a gas at normal temperature and pressure, the inhalation of this gas pose a risk for human health and so for environmental quality. Methane is potent greenhouse gas and compared to carbon dioxide it has greater potential. This makes methane gas dangerous for environmental quality in case of release by accident or design.However, as mentioned in part a, we controlled the conditions for gas and examined in air ventilated glove boxes. Another material which could pose risk for environmental quality is methanol. This chemical is volatile and flammable liquid. When this chemical release near open flame it could result with harmful effects both for health and environment conditions.

Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups or states?

Only the methane gas has risks for security if reaches to malicious someone. Our group members have experience and training on gas used experiments and there is not possibility on misuse indeed malicious misuse.

Please explain your responses (whether yes or no) to these questions.

Specifically, are any parts or devices in your project associated with (or known to cause):

- pathogenicity, infectivity, or toxicity? No

- threats to environmental quality? Yes, methane gas

- security concerns? No

There are no part on our experiments and our project that could be use as treat to environment or infect to human life as individually. Only one of the parts, subunit A of methane monooxygenase may pose a health risk while studying since it has the region where methane interacts and the conversion steps initialize.As host cell we have used E.coli BL21 (DE3) and Top10 strains, these strains are classified as hazard group 2 pathogen by the UK Advisory Committee on the Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP).

2. If your response to any of the questions above is yes:

a. Explain how you addressed these issues in project design and while conducting laboratory work. Explained in each question

b. Describe and document safety, security, health and/or environmental issues as you submit your parts to the Registry.

3. Under what biosafety provisions will / do you operate?

a. Does your institution have its own biosafety rules and if so what are they? Provide a link to them online if possible.

Yes, there is general laboratory biosafety rules for lab security and researcher security obeyed in Biology and Chemistry departments. In research laboratories the students are provided with general lab security and rules which are compilation of general and international procedures for individual safety. These procedures are the compilation of following links

http://oba.od.nih.gov/oba/rac/guidelines_02/NIH_Gdlnes_lnk_2002z.pdf

b. Does your institution have an Institutional Biosafety Committee or equivalent group? If yes, have you discussed your project with them? Describe any concerns or changes that were made based on this review.

Yes, there is biosafety and ethical research center in METU until 2000. This committee helds many conferences about ethics, environmental ethics in studies and the medicinal ethics based on human researchs. The below link belongs to this committee however in Turkish language.

http://www.ueam.metu.edu.tr

Indeed in Biology department at METU one of our professors, Prof.Dr Huseyin Avni Oktem is one of the members of National Biosafety Coordinating Committee. He is our pioneer for biosafety and security issues. We have consulted to him the critical safety points in our project and also discussed the project based on safety.

c. Will / did you receive any biosafety and/or lab training before beginning your project? If so, describe this training.

Before we begin to experiments, we firstly were taught on lab security and personal safety for cases of individual injure, indeed in emergency situations. This interval was training for us. Also team leaders, the experienced ones in team, prepared an exam for new team members as a part of training for general lab regulations and project details.

Does your country have national biosafety regulations or guidelines? If so, provide a link to them online if possible.

In Turkey, biosafety regulations are organized by the Biosafety Information Exchange Mechanism of Turkey, facility of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair.

http://www.tbbdm.gov.tr/en/Home.aspx

PUBLIC AWARENESS

MethanE.COLIc project arises from sustainty and conservancy of human health and safety. Therefore while we were constructing the organismal device we also wanted to inform people from all age and we wanted to increase the public awareness on our project; methane gas based explosions. The main reason for us to choose such a project is that in Turkey- and also in many countries- each year, huge numbers of workers in mines lost their lifes due to deficiencies and conditions in their working areas (mines). The explosions due to revealed methane gas which is named as Grizu explosions leads to subsidence of mine

Our aim is to inform people in each age. After brainstorming and searching, we planned the content of information according to age groups.

5-10 year old group >>>> METU Summer Course Attendee 10-17 year old group >>>> High school students 18-24 year old group >>>> METU students 24-older year old group >>>> TMMOB( Association of Turkish Architects and Engineers ) members