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Biosafety Manual PDF - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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<strong>Biosafety</strong> <strong>Manual</strong><br />

IBC-approved version (May 18, 2010)<br />

Section VIII-G of BMBL contains information and guidance on specific toxins. When<br />

applicable, this guidance must be reviewed and should be incorporated into the work in<br />

accordance with the IBC-approved risk assessment.<br />

3.3.2.5 Select Agents and Toxins<br />

Select agents and toxins are specific pathogenic agents and toxins regulated by<br />

the HHS-CDC and The USDA-APHIS due to their potential threat (e.g., as biological<br />

weapons) to human, animal, and plant health. Specific genetic elements,<br />

recombinant nucleic acids, and recombinant organisms that may pose a similar<br />

threat are also regulated. Appendix B, Section B.2, of this manual provides the list of select<br />

agents and toxins and additional toxin information.<br />

Possession, use, storage, or transfer of select agents and toxins must be conducted in<br />

compliance with the HHS-CDC and USDA-APHIS regulations related to human, plant, and<br />

animal select agents and toxins. Specific controls for select agents are detailed in LBNL’s<br />

<strong>Biosafety</strong>, Security, and Incident Response Plan for Select Agents, a controlled document.<br />

Controls for select agents have also been integrated into the overall biosafety program<br />

described in this manual.<br />

See the <strong>National</strong> Select Agent Registry (NSAR) Program Web site for additional information<br />

on select agents provided by HHS-CDC and USDA-APHIS. The NSAR Program oversees<br />

possession of select agents and toxins for the HHS-CDC Division of Select Agents and Toxins<br />

and the USDA-APHIS Agricultural Select Agent Program.<br />

3.3.2.6 Prions<br />

A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein. All such agents discovered to date<br />

propagate by transmitting a misfolded protein; the protein does not itself self-replicate and the<br />

process is dependent on the presence of the polypeptide in the host organism. The misfolded<br />

form of the prion protein has been implicated in prion diseases known as transmissible<br />

spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). TSEs are neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans<br />

and a variety of domestic and wild animal species. Examples are Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease<br />

(CJD) in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow<br />

disease in cattle. All known prion diseases affect the structure of the brain or other neural tissue,<br />

are currently untreatable, and are always fatal.<br />

Normal and diseased (misfolded) prions.<br />

Source: ScienceBlogs, Basic Concepts: Prions, by Shelley Batts (February 11, 2007).<br />

Printed copies are not official versions of this manual. Before using the printed copy, verify that it is the most current version.<br />

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