From: Luke Weston <reindeerflotilla@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: Email from the OGTR
To: biohacksyd@googlegroups.com
Interesting. It's kind of nice that their response is just "you must be compliant with the same rules as everybody else, but we're otherwise cool", as opposed to "it's absurd that you could do this stuff outside of a professional institution, do not do it".
Some quick thoughts:
- The attached PDF single-page "fact sheet" contains essentially nothing of value except the basic principle that certain activities involving any genetic engineering of an organism requires a permit from OGTR, but certain types of activities are exempt, in case the reader was unaware of that basic principle that you can't just do anything you want with novel GMOs in the environment without regulation.
- It is likely that most "DIY-bio" activities in Australia involving recombinant DNA, if any, are either exempt or NLRD. Dealings in a higher-risk category are likely to be rare to nonexistent. I would have a pretty good suspicion that nobody in the DIY-bio community would ever be likely to have any interest in any activity with GMOs or pathogens requiring a laboratory designed for (and regulated/approved for) PC2-or-greater containment.
- It is completely implausible that anybody in the DIYBio community or hackerspace or similar communities would have any interest in any dealings with any of the high-risk pathogens or biotoxins on the SSBA list, and in fact if anybody outside professional institutions did I would want them reported to the government anyway due to the high risk to the community. And all those sorts of nasty agents require you to have a PC3 (or 4) laboratory anyway, as well as the expertise in handling them safely, and it's just totally implausible that anybody is able to, should, or would be allowed to, or would want to, outside of a professional institution. I think it's just a moot point, with nothing to discuss.
- If the dealings are exempt, is accreditation of your organization with OGTR still required? Is an Institutional Biosafety Committee required?
- If the dealings fall into NLRD, accreditation of the organization, and the existence of the organization's IBC, is definitely required. How easy is this for an organization such as a hackerspace? What about an individual working in the DIY-bio space? Is it plausible at all?
But that's just what I think, quickly skimming over it.
Regards,
Luke
On Tuesday, 11 December 2012 17:04:54 UTC+11, Meow wrote:
>
> If you got a letter from the OGTR, don't stress. I just spoke with the director of investigations and security and he just wanted to make ure that we were all aware of the relevant laws surrounding what we do. I invited him to come and give a talk in January. We will discuss more about this at the next meeting on thursday though.
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