Biosafety and paranoia post-9/11 August 18, 2009
Posted by Phakamile in : Health Studies, Projects , trackbackSince the bombings of the Twin Towers in the US on September 11, 2001 there has been a great deal of emphasis on safety in different countries. Some countries have stepped-up and strenghtened their safety so as to ensure this doesn’t happen to them. The other issue of biosafety against any form of biorisks has also seen many countries form specialised committees of scientific experts and/or agencies that specialise in dealing with biorisks. Biosafety policies have been implemented by some countries whereas others are still in the process of either developing or implementing them.
Even though these biosafety policies are good and necessary, there also seems to be a degree of paranoia in some countries. Some academic institutions/biotechnology research centers have suffered because of the restrictions imposed by these policies, where, amongst other things, they can’t work with certain pathogens as they are demeed biological risks. Paranoia about biosafety is even evident at airports in certain countries. Despite all this paranoia, many lessons have been learnt regarding good laboratory practice (GLP) and ethical issues surrounding biosafety. As the saying goes: it’s better to be safe than sorry!
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