Editing Biosafety (section)

===Incidents of non-compliance and reform efforts===

The United States Government has made it clear that biosafety is to be taken very seriously.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/biosafety-and-biosecurity-united-states|title=Biosafety and Biosecurity in the United States - Homeland Security|date=16 December 2014|access-date=15 November 2016|archive-date=16 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116015444/https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/biosafety-and-biosecurity-united-states|url-status=live}}</ref>  In 2014, incidents with anthrax and Ebola pathogens in CDC laboratories<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/s0204-ebola-lab.html|title=CDC Press Releases|access-date=2017-09-08|archive-date=2017-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719180347/https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/s0204-ebola-lab.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/news-multimedia/lab-incident/|title=CDC Lab Incident: Anthrax, June 2014 - Anthrax - CDC|access-date=2017-09-08|archive-date=2017-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222230210/https://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/news-multimedia/lab-incident/|url-status=live}}</ref> prompted the CDC director [[Tom Frieden]] to issue a [[Moratorium (law)|moratorium]] for research with these types of [[select agent]]s.  An investigation concluded that there was a lack of adherence to safety protocols and "inadequate safeguards" in place.  This indicated a lack of proper training or reinforcement of training and supervision on regular basis for lab personnel.

Following these incidents, the CDC established an External Laboratory Safety Workgroup (ELSW),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/about/lab-safety/laboratory-safety-workgroup/workgroup.html|title=Laboratory Safety at CDC|date=15 July 2019|access-date=8 September 2017|archive-date=16 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716151540/https://www.cdc.gov/about/lab-safety/laboratory-safety-workgroup/workgroup.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and suggestions have been made to reform effectiveness of the Federal Select Agent Program.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.selectagents.gov/|title=Federal Select Agent Program|access-date=2016-11-15|archive-date=2019-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412014131/https://www.selectagents.gov/|url-status=live}}</ref> The White House issued a report on national biosafety priorities in 2015, outlining next steps for a national biosafety and security program, and addressed biological safety needs for health research, national defense, and public safety.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/10-2015_biosafety_and_biosecurity_memo.pdf |title=Biosafety and biosecurity memo |date=October 29, 2015 |access-date=2016-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121010203/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/10-2015_biosafety_and_biosecurity_memo.pdf |archive-date=2017-01-21 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) had a presentation at their annual meeting focused on improving biosafety culture.<ref>https://www.aphl.org/conferences/proceedings/Documents/2016_Annual_Meeting/23Monroe{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This same year, The UPMC Center for Health Security issued a case study report including reviews of ten different nations' current biosafety regulations, including the United States.  Their goal was to "provide a foundation for identifying national-level biosafety norms and enable initial assessment of biosafety priorities necessary for developing effective national biosafety regulation and oversight."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.upmchealthsecurity.org/our-work/pubs_archive/pubs-pdfs/2016/Combined%20Biosafety%20Case%20Studies%20final%20draft%20062116.pdf |title=NATIONAL BIOSAFETY SYSTEM |author1=Gigi Kwik Gronvall |author2=Matthew P Shearer |author3=Hannah Collins |date=July 2016 |publisher=UPMC Center for Health Security |access-date=2016-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109085425/http://www.upmchealthsecurity.org/our-work/pubs_archive/pubs-pdfs/2016/Combined%20Biosafety%20Case%20Studies%20final%20draft%20062116.pdf |archive-date=2016-11-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>