Biosafety in the laboratory - VIB

1. INTRODUCTION
Biological material is used intensively in biological and biomedical research. In this type of
research the use of modern molecular biological techniques like recombinant-DNA technology
is still on the increase. This booklet gives a brief overview of the basic principles
that are important for the safe use of pathogenic and/or genetically modified organisms.
Three types of safety measures can be distinguished:
a. measures to protect the worker,
b. measures to protect the experiment, and
c. measures to protect humans and the environment.
In this booklet, these different measures will be discussed for micro-organisms, as well as
for plants and animals. Every researcher that makes use of these types of organisms in the
laboratory should know the basic principles of biosafety by heart and act accordingly. Only
in this way a situation can be created that is safe both for yourself, your fellow human
beings, and the environment.
The safe use of biological material is also required by two types of legislation:
1. The legislation on the protection of workers of activities with biological agents;
2. The legislation on the environment with regard to working with genetically modified
organisms.
For both types, there is European legislation which has been incorporated into national
law.
Figure 1: The biohazard symbol. This symbol indicates that work is being done with biologically
hazardous organisms (starting from risk class 2)
Introduction 5