BiolabsReporting All Biosafety Errors Could Improve Labs Worldwide – and Increase Public Trust in Biological Research
Around the world, scientists conduct many kinds of biological research experiments – from basic studies exploring how living systems operate to synthesizing novel organisms. The idea that a pathogen could escape from a laboratory and infect the entire world is the stuff of horror movies. Working with biological materials does have inherent risks, and laboratory incidents will happen – the goal is to minimize risks to laboratory personnel, the community and the environment.
The origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains a mystery. One theory is that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was transmitted from animals to humans – a fairly common occurrence. Another is that it came from a laboratory accident – a more infrequent circumstance.
Around the world, scientists conduct many kinds of biological research experiments – from basic studies exploring how living systems operate to synthesizing novel organisms. Applications range from developing medical treatments to protecting the food supply to modifying bacteria to cleaning up oil spills and much more. A subset of experiments may also involve gain-of-function research, which involves modifying an organism to gain a new property or ability.
The idea that a pathogen could escape from a laboratory and infect the entire world is the stuff of horror movies. Working with biological materials does have inherent risks, and laboratory incidents will happen – the goal is to minimize risks to laboratory personnel, the community and the environment.
We are biosafety and biosecurity professionals with expertise in mitigating risks associated with biological research. Without a standardized, international framework for reporting laboratory incidents and responses, the task of mitigating such risks is quite difficult. If laboratories were more open about when things go wrong, others could learn from their mistakes and lessen the chances of a future accident.
Science and Technology Mishaps
In 1984, 30 tons of a highly toxic gas were released in Bhopal, India. Considered one of the world’s worst industrial accidents, the explosion killed several thousand people.
When one of Chernobyl’s radioactive nuclear cores had a meltdown in 1986, the Soviet government hid details and spread misinformation about the event, even though the heat from the reactor could be seen from space.
By contrast, when an accident occurs with a biological material, it is not a spectacular event like an explosion or meltdown. A disease caused by a biological organism takes time to appear. It may take days or weeks for symptoms to present after infection.
The 1979 Sverdlovsk Anthrax Outbreak in the Soviet Union and the 2007 Pirbright Institute’s foot-and-mouth incident in the U.K. are examples where biological materials unintentionally escaped the laboratory. People got sick and farm animals died.
Laboratory-related infections are frequently tied to the breakdown of a particular laboratory safety procedure, equipment or organizational process.
