Biosafety: prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health. Biological integrity is associated with how “pristine” an environment is and it’s function relative to the potential or original state of an ecosystem before human alterations were imposed. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ...

Biosafety is related to several fields

• in ecology (referring to imported life forms from beyond ecoregion borders),
• in agriculture (reducing the risk of alien viral or transgenic genes, or prions such as BSE/"MadCow", reducing the risk of food bacterial contamination)
• in medicine (referring to organs or tissues from biological origin, or genetic therapy products, virus; levels of lab containment protocols measured as 1, 2, 3, 4 in rising order of danger),
• in chemistry (i.e., nitrates in water, PCB levels affecting fertility) and
• in exobiology (i.e., NASA's policy for containing alien microbes that may exist on space samples - sometimes called "biosafety level 5").

The international Biosafety Protocol deals primarily with the agricultural definition but many advocacy groups seek to expand it to include post-genetic threats: new molecules, artificial life forms, and even robots which may compete directly in the natural food chain. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... medicines, see Medication. ... Chemistry - the study of atoms, made of nuclei (conglomeration of center particles) and electrons (outer particles), and the structures they form. ... Astrobiology (in Greek astron = star, bios = life and logos = word/science), also known as exobiology (Greek: exo = out) or xenobiology (Greek: xenos = foreign) is the term for a speculative field within biology which considers the possible variety of extraterrestrial life. ... The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifies four levels of biocontainment precautions for biological agents, Biosafety Levels 1 through 4. ... The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is an international agreement on biosafety, as a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. ...

Biosafety in agriculture, chemistry, medicine, exobiology and beyond will likely require application of the precautionary principle, and a new definition focused on the biological nature of the threatened organism rather than the nature of the threat. The precautionary principle is a moral and political principle which states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the...

When biological warfare or new, currently hypothetical, threats (i.e., robots, new artificial bacteria) are considered, biosafety precautions are generally not sufficient. The new field of biosecurity addresses these complex threats. For the use of biological agents by terrorists, see bioterrorism. ... A biosecurity guarantee attempts to ensure that ecologies sustaining either people or animals are maintained. ...

Biosafety level refers to the stringency of precautions deemed necessary by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for laboratory work with infectious materials. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifies four levels of biocontainment precautions for biological agents, Biosafety Levels 1 through 4. ... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, is recognized as the leading United States agency for protecting the public health and safety of people. ...

See also

Genetically modified plant Genetically modified plants are genetically engineered to contain one or more genes of another species. ...

References

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Genes, Technology and Policy

• WHO Biosafety Programme
• CDC Biosafety pages
• The Sunshine Project: Nonprofit Laboratory Biosafety Watchdog
• International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology: Biosafety pages
• Greenpeace safe trade campaign
• American Biological Safety Association
• Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories
• Program for Biosafety Systems US-funded program
• Food Security and Ag-Biotech News — balanced global news on biosafety issues in agriculture
• GMO Safety - Information about research projects on the biological safety of genetically modified plants.