Senate Bills - 110th Congress

S. 3127—Select Agent Program and Biosafety Improvement Act of 2008

On June 12, 2008, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced S. 3127, the Select Agent Program and Biosafety Improvement Act of 2008. Provisions would (1) reauthorize the Select Agent Program through 2013; (2) require the Secretary of HHS, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, to enter into a contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a review of the current program and submit a report to Congress within 240 days after enactment; (3) require the Secretary of HHS to issue guidance on monitoring the biological agents included in the Select Agent registry; (4) require, either directly or through contract, that the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, and in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security, evaluate national needs of, and oversight of, high containment (Biosafety Level 3 and 4) biological laboratories. In addition, provisions would require that the Secretary, acting through the Directors of the NIH and CDC, and in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture and scientific experts, to develop minimum standards for laboratory biosafety and biosecurity training for relevant personnel of such labs. S. 3127 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.