KARACHI, Nov 19: Highlighting the need to have a national framework on biological safety, speakers at a conference on Saturday said an unchecked growth of laboratories, clinics and hospitals across the country, unsafe handling, collection and disposal of medical waste, lack of awareness of biosafety and poor implementation of relevant laws have exposed the public, especially the scientific community, to serious health risks.

Regulatory bodies, they said, needed to be activated in the country and a responsible conduct was required in every domain of society, especially in institutions and units dealing with biological material.

The conference titled ‘Building national biosafety and global ties’ was the first international moot organised by the Pakistan Biological Safety Association (PBSA), a non-government organisation working to raise awareness about biosafety practices, in collaboration with the Biosecurity Engagement Programme, USA, at a local hotel.

Four workshops were also held before the two-day conference that covered topics such as responsible conduct of science, fundamentals of biosafety, specimen transport and the International Airline Transport Association regulations, laboratory designing and engineering controls and policy initiatives for building a national framework for biosafety.

Starting off the day’s proceedings, Dr Erum Khan, president of the PBSA, underlined the importance of laboratory biosafety and said the application of biosafety measures in academic and research laboratories was vital not only for the safety of local scientists but also for building confidence of the international community so that Pakistani scientists could benefit from foreign collaboration.

“The international community offers a number of opportunities to learn and improve. But since most of our institutions do not observe biosafety standards, they cannot avail of these offers,” she said.

Expressing similar thoughts, Dr Irfan Shami, a director-general in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the implementation of effective biosafety measures would pave the way for international cooperation. The assurance of laboratory biosafety, he said, was in line with Pakistan’s international obligations under the UN’s Biological Weapons Convention.

Dr Anwar Nasim, patron-in-chief of the association and chairman of the biosafety task force, said the conference was timely as there had been growing concerns on biosafety issues. It was of immense importance, he said, to provide protective gear to laboratory workers and to have strict regulations for the protection of environment.

Giving a presentation on biosafety challenges in developing countries, Dr Willy K.Tonui, president of the chair board of directors, International Federation of Biosafety Association, said Asian and African countries faced similar problems and there was a need to establish a strong collaboration so that experiences could be shared and lessons learnt.

“Laboratory acquired infection and unsafe disposal of medical waste is a major issue in developing countries. Most countries either lack comprehensive regulations on the subject or are failing to ensure their complete implementation.

“The concept to train staff in biosafety in many settings is almost non-existent while high-ranking officials, who are supposed to make policies and regulations in this regard, lack the required knowledge of the subject,” he said. The need to work in a safer environment was not an option, but rather a need, he added. Dr Jean Gratz of the University of Virginia, who has visited hundreds of laboratories across the world, spoke about biosafety practices in low-resource settings and said the person who had the biggest impact in case of biosafety was the one who handled, collected and disposed of laboratory material.

“I visit laboratories as a colleague and not as an inspector. This approach helped me explore the truth and avail of opportunities that could bring about improvement in those settings,” she said, adding that there was a need to develop a culture of biosafety.

Speaking about national biosafety in the light of global obligations, Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, director of the arms control and disarmament affairs, strategic plans division, highlighted the country’s role at national and international levels and said Pakistan would participate in the review conference of the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention scheduled for December in Geneva.The others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Teck-Mean Chua from Singapore, Dr Philippe Stroot from Belgium, Dr Dorice from South Africa and Dr Kathy Fiekert from the United Kingdom, Dr Maria Sultan, director of the South Asian Strategic Stability Unit, Yasmin Chaudhry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dr Altaf Ahmad of the Indus Hospital.