Legislations on Biosecurity: Compliance Challenges for Malaysian Scientists
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T. S. Saraswathy Subramaniam
Abstract
Malaysia is one of the State Parties to the Biological Toxins and Weapons Convention (BTWC), which was signed in 1972 and ratified in 1991. National legislation governing laboratory biosecurity is in progress. The Malaysian BTWC Bill, when implemented, will require all organizations working with infectious organisms to develop institutional biorisk policies and implement biorisk management programs to address laboratory biosafety and biosecurity at the workplace. Laboratory biosecurity is a relatively new and evolving paradigm for bioscience laboratories in Malaysia. Compliance with this legislation is a significant challenge and requires major change to organizational and workplace culture. Successful implementation would also require awareness training, resources, and a culture of responsibility among scientists.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Director General of Health, Malaysia for permission to publish this paper.
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Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Biotechnology for Wealth Creation and Social Well Being: The Way Forward (2005).
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Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, January 29, 2000, U.N. Doc. UNEP/CBD/ExCOP/1/3, reprinted in 39 I.L.M. 1027, available athttp://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/protocol.asp.
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©2014 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to Volume V
- Lead Article
- Legislations on Biosecurity: Compliance Challenges for Malaysian Scientists
- Global Approaches to Quarantine Law
- One Hundred Years of Solitude: The Uses and Limitations of Quarantine as a Tool for Maintaining Global Public Health Since Typhoid Mary
- “An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Quarantine”: National and International Quarantine Laws vs Prevention and Control Measures as Applied to XDR-TB
- Comparative Federalism and Biosecurity Law
- Federalism in the Time of SARS: A Comparative Analysis of the Response to Public Health Threats in Federalist Societies
- Outbreak or Attack: The Effects of Federalism on the U.S. Public Health System as Shown by the Emergence of the West Nile Virus
- Comparative Legal Approaches to Biosecurity
- The Non-fiction of Captain America: A Legal Analysis of the Potential and Perils of Genetic Engineering in Modern Warfare
- Should Everyone Know Everything?: The Freedom of Information Act vs. Governmental and National Security
- Bioweapons: Attribution and Justice
- What We’ve Got Here Is a Failure to Investigate: The Syrian Biological Weapons Threat
- The BWC’s Prohibition of Biological Weapons: Reality or Rhetoric?
- Special Focus: Mass Gatherings and Global Biosecurity Law
- Implications of the World Health Organization’s Recommendations During Mass Gatherings in Light of Individual Rights in the United States and Other Countries
- Plan and Prepare: Formulating an Emergency Response Plan for First Responders and Good Samaritans during a Bioterrorist Act Affecting Thousands
- Farm-to-Fork from Argentina to Zimbabwe: Using the U.S. Agroterrorism Model as a Guide for an International Regulatory Scheme to Promote Food Safety in Mass Gatherings
- New Rules to Play By: International Health Regulations and the 2016 Olympics
- Are Super Security Measures Needed to Prevent Attacks on the Super Bowl (and other “Mass Gatherings”)?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction to Volume V
- Lead Article
- Legislations on Biosecurity: Compliance Challenges for Malaysian Scientists
- Global Approaches to Quarantine Law
- One Hundred Years of Solitude: The Uses and Limitations of Quarantine as a Tool for Maintaining Global Public Health Since Typhoid Mary
- “An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Quarantine”: National and International Quarantine Laws vs Prevention and Control Measures as Applied to XDR-TB
- Comparative Federalism and Biosecurity Law
- Federalism in the Time of SARS: A Comparative Analysis of the Response to Public Health Threats in Federalist Societies
- Outbreak or Attack: The Effects of Federalism on the U.S. Public Health System as Shown by the Emergence of the West Nile Virus
- Comparative Legal Approaches to Biosecurity
- The Non-fiction of Captain America: A Legal Analysis of the Potential and Perils of Genetic Engineering in Modern Warfare
- Should Everyone Know Everything?: The Freedom of Information Act vs. Governmental and National Security
- Bioweapons: Attribution and Justice
- What We’ve Got Here Is a Failure to Investigate: The Syrian Biological Weapons Threat
- The BWC’s Prohibition of Biological Weapons: Reality or Rhetoric?
- Special Focus: Mass Gatherings and Global Biosecurity Law
- Implications of the World Health Organization’s Recommendations During Mass Gatherings in Light of Individual Rights in the United States and Other Countries
- Plan and Prepare: Formulating an Emergency Response Plan for First Responders and Good Samaritans during a Bioterrorist Act Affecting Thousands
- Farm-to-Fork from Argentina to Zimbabwe: Using the U.S. Agroterrorism Model as a Guide for an International Regulatory Scheme to Promote Food Safety in Mass Gatherings
- New Rules to Play By: International Health Regulations and the 2016 Olympics
- Are Super Security Measures Needed to Prevent Attacks on the Super Bowl (and other “Mass Gatherings”)?
