USDA seeks Public Input to Develop an Agriculture Biosafety/Biocontainment Manual

USDA seeks Public Input to Develop an Agriculture Biosafety/Biocontainment Manual

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Agriculture Research Service (ARS)are developing a biosafety and biocontainment manual to describe how to work safely in a laboratory setting with pathogens and pests of animals, plants, or animal or plant products. The scope of this manual will be pathogens and pests of terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants.

The Agriculture Biosafety/Biocontainment Manual is intended to be a companion manual to the National Institutes of Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) 6^th edition, which is currently under development. The BMBL will focus on those biosafety issues of concern to public health research. The companion manual that the USDA is developing (referred to as AgBMBL) will address biosafety/biocontainment topics of concern in agricultural research.

As a first step, the USDA has developed a draft table of contents for the manual. The draft table of contents serves as an outline of the topic considerations to be covered for each division (terrestrial animals, aquaculture animals, terrestrial plants, terrestrial pest [parasitic] plants, and aquatic plants).

The USDA is requesting public input into this manual’s development. To view the draft table of contents and submit comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0104. We will accept comments for 60 days ending on February 10, 2015. As the AgBMBL’s development continues, we will provide additional opportunities for public involvement.