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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Conceptual framework for biosecurity levels.

Conference ·
OSTI ID:945180

Biosecurity must be implemented without impeding biomedical and bioscience research. Existing security literature and regulatory requirements do not present a comprehensive approach or clear model for biosecurity, nor do they wholly recognize the operational issues within laboratory environments. To help address these issues, the concept of Biosecurity Levels should be developed. Biosecurity Levels would have increasing levels of security protections depending on the attractiveness of the pathogens to adversaries. Pathogens and toxins would be placed in a Biosecurity Level based on their security risk. Specifically, the security risk would be a function of an agent's weaponization potential and consequences of use. To demonstrate the concept, examples of security risk assessments for several human, animal, and plant pathogens will be presented. Higher security than that currently mandated by federal regulations would be applied for those very few agents that represent true weapons threats and lower levels for the remainder.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
945180
Report Number(s):
SAND2004-5348C
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English