2015 Annual Report of the Federal Select Agent Program

Details

• Alternative Title:
  2015 FSAP Annual Report
• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S). Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Division of Select Agents and Toxins. ; United States. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Agriculture Select Agent Program.;
• Description:
  The Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) is managed jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Select Agents and Toxins (DSAT) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Agriculture Select Agent Services (AgSAS). FSAP oversees the possession, use and transfer of biological select agents and toxins (BSAT) so that research can be conducted as safely and securely as possible. This research provides important scientific discoveries that have led to improved detection, prevention, diagnostic, and treatment options for diseases considered to be some of the most threatening to public health.
  
  The United States Government (USG) recently released two sets of recommendations related to the safety and security of work with BSAT, one from the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel (FESAP) and another from the Fast Track Action Committee on Select Agent Regulations (FTAC-SAR). The implementation of these recommendations is underway and represents progress toward strengthening the government’s biosafety and biosecurity practices and the oversight system. The recommendations recognize that work with BSAT has human, animal, and plant health and national security benefits. The recommendations of both groups are complementary and will help further ensure that life science efforts, which benefit the global community in countering biological threats, are carried out safely and securely. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also released its own recommendations for oversight program improvement through a 90-day Internal Review of the Division of Select Agents and Toxins. All three reviews recommended that FSAP increase transparency and public engagement, as well as improve communication between it and the regulated community. To further public understanding of FSAP, this report marks the program’s first annual effort towards communicating operational metrics to the American public. Over time, the program expects to gain more experience with reporting these data, improve the reporting process, and be able to share more details on other aspects of the program. FSAP will publish a similar report on an annual basis going forward.
  
  The following report summarizes calendar year 2015 data for FSAP. The three reviews discussed above were published in October 2015, and not all recommended improvements are reflected in this summary.
  
  FSAP_Annual_Report_2015.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  Biological Warfare Agents Bioterrorism Containment Of Biohazards Hazardous Substances Security Measures
• Document Type:
  Report
• Name as Subject:
  Federal Select Agent Program
• Genre:
  Annual Reports
• Pages in Document:
  31 numbered pages
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:e5890e6c2fd987a660329e141c2dde2ece35bb89b94bc1da225f3744e4d97f01
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/40213/cdc_40213_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 626.76 KB ]