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Does your country have national biosafety regulations or guidelines?
In the Netherlands, any person or institution intending to perform genetic modifications is required to obtain licenses under the Royal Order on Genetic Modified Organisms (which is called ‘Besluit GGO’ in Dutch), Regulation Genetic Modified Organisms (‘Regeling GGO’) and environmental legislation as the Law on Environmental Management (‘Wet Milieubeheer’). These laws are directed too by the Dutch governmental page on [http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/biotechnologie/wetten-en-regels-biotechnologie Biotechnology laws]. Food related genetic modifications and border crossing transport of genetically modified (micro-)organisms are also regulated by European legislation. While neither one of these is valid for our project this will not be expanded upon further on this page, but more information could be found on the site of the European [http://bch.cbd.int/ Biosafety Clearing-House].
The Royal Order on Genetic Modified Organisms is for the greater part about the classification of the organisms, in which consideration is taken regarding possible modifications of their genomes. Our team has applied this information by rejecting any project idea that required a cell chassis of BSL 2 and higher from the list with brainstorm ideas we made.
According to the Regulation Genetic Modified Organisms, Wageningen UR employs a number of (biological) safety workers. Every lab has a laboratory manager, or practical tutor. This person has introduced every team member to the lab by giving them a “safety tour.” Therein, we came across all the rules and information we should regard about: discarding biological and chemical waste, disinfection of the lab bench, what to wear in the lab, how to act in case of an emergency and more. The laboratory manager sees to it that genetic modification related research is being executed according to the involved rules. If an accident happens, like aerosol formation, the manager also is the first person who would be notified about this. Next to our project also, possible more risk full, lab work can be performed by others, so the practical tutor’s instruction, supervision and presence are welcome.
