Federal Select Agent Program: Progress Towards Change
Following high-profile laboratory incidents involving select agents and toxins that occurred at federally regulated laboratories, multiple groups within the federal government took a closer look at the biosafety and security practices involved in the conduct and oversight of this work.
An important part of this oversight involves the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP), which is conducted jointly by CDC, through the Division of Select Agents and Toxins (DSAT), and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services’ Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT), to ensure that research with select agents and toxins is conducted as safely and securely as possible.
In October 2015, three federal reviews were released, each of which contained recommendations designed to strengthen the federal government’s biosafety and security practices and oversight, both through the FSAP and at a broader national level. There are many recommendations across the three reports that complement one another and that seek to support the same focus area.
The information below is designed to extract and summarize the recommendations relevant to CDC’s administration of the FSAP, collect them in one place, outline actions that have been identified to address each, and provide an update on progress towards implementation of those recommendations.
DSAT, in conjunction with its DASAT colleagues, continues to work diligently to implement these improvements and will provide periodic updates on this website.