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Application of multi-criteria decision analysis techniques and decision support framework for informing plant select agent designation and decision making

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [5]
  1. US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Silver Spring, MD (United States); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Washington, DC (United States)
  2. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Retired, Livermore, CA (United States)
  4. Retired, Palmetto, FL (United States)
  5. Retired, Atlanta, GA (United States); IHRC, Atlanta, GA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT) established a list of biological agents (Select Agents List) that threaten crops of economic importance to the United States and regulates the procedures governing containment, incident response, and the security of entities working with them. Every 2 years the USDA DASAT reviews their select agent list, utilizing assessments by subject matter experts (SMEs) to rank the agents. We explored the applicability of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques and a decision support framework (DSF) to support the USDA DASAT biennial review process. The evaluation includes both current and non-select agents to provide a robust assessment. We initially conducted a literature review of 16 pathogens against 9 criteria for assessing plant health and bioterrorism risk and documented the findings to support this analysis. Technical review of published data and associated scoring recommendations by pathogen-specific SMEs was found to be critical for ensuring accuracy. Scoring criteria were adopted to ensure consistency. The MCDA supported the expectation that select agents would rank high on the relative risk scale when considering the agricultural consequences of a bioterrorism attack; however, application of analytical thresholds as a basis for designating select agents led to some exceptions to current designations. A second analytical approach used agent-specific data to designate key criteria in a DSF logic tree format to identify pathogens of low concern that can be ruled out for further consideration as select agents. Both the MCDA and DSF approaches arrived at similar conclusions, suggesting the value of employing the two analytical approaches to add robustness for decision making.
Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003525
OSTI ID:
2469893
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Journal Name: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology Vol. 11; ISSN 2296-4185
Publisher:
Frontiers Media S.A.Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

Biological Warfare against Crops journal June 1999
Cuban Allegations of Biological Warfare by the United States: Assessing the Evidence journal January 1999
THETHREAT OFPLANTPATHOGENS ASWEAPONSAGAINSTU.S. CROPS journal September 2003
Environmental and Economic Costs of Nonindigenous Species in the United States journal January 2000
Biological Attack on Agriculture: Low-Tech, High-Impact Bioterrorism journal January 2002
Pathogen Security-Help or Hindrance? journal January 2015
The development and use of decision support framework for informing selection of select agent toxins with modelling studies to inform permissible toxin amounts journal October 2022
Application of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Techniques for Informing Select Agent Designation and Decision Making journal June 2022
Application of multi-criteria decision analysis techniques and decision support framework for informing select agent designation for agricultural animal pathogens journal June 2023
The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History book April 2012

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Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Engineering
biennial review
decision support framework (DSF)
multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
plant select agents
risk assessment tool