OTTAWA — Attention mad scientists: It may soon be illegal to store Ebola
in your basement.
The federal government has introduced legislation to limit access to
disease-causing pathogens and toxins and to dictate how they should be handled.
The aim of the bill, which is heading to a Commons committee, is to prevent
terrorists from intentionally unleashing biohazards and to protect Canadians
from mistakes by lab workers.
Laboratories - local community labs that diagnose disease, as well as university
and government research labs - are required to follow bio-safety guidelines
before they can import pathogens, explained Theresa Tam, director-general of the
Public Health Agency of Canada.
Those import regulations apply to about 3,500 facilities across Canada.
But, said Dr. Tam, "there is a gap in that laboratories that do not import
pathogens currently fall outside the existing regulations."
Most technicians follow a regime that has become accepted practice when dealing
with human pathogens. The really bad bugs such as anthrax, for instance, are
stored only at the Health Canada Level 4 laboratory in Winnipeg.
"We certainly believe that laboratories, many of them, voluntarily comply with
existing laboratory bio-safety guidelines and that, in general, laboratories are
safe in Canada," said Dr. Tam.
But there is a clear need, she said, for people working with the highest-risk
pathogens to obtain a security clearance. The new legislation, which was
originally introduced last year but died when the fall election was called,
would do that.
Under the new law, no one who is not licensed by the government would be
permitted to possess, produce, store, transfer or dispose of a human pathogen or
toxin.
In addition, the disease-causing materials would be divided into categories,
according to the level of risk they present, and technicians would be required
to handle them accordingly.
The legislation makes it clear that the regulations won't apply to diseases that
occur naturally in human beings. No one will be carted off to jail for coming
down with Ebola.
But the consequences for those who knowingly violate the law could be fines of
$1-million and jail terms of five years.
Peter Singer, a professor of medicine at the University Health Network and the
University of Toronto, has been studying whether Canada is prepared for
bioterrorism. The answer, he said, is "I'm not sure."
The introduction of a law to control the security of pathogens and toxins is an
important piece of the puzzle, said Dr. Singer. "To really get the bio-security
thing right you need a web of protection."
Any law, he said, must balance that security with the need to allow scientists
to do their work.
It also must take into account that bio-materials are more easily obtained than
the highly enriched uranium or plutonium that would be required for a nuclear
attack.
So "this is at least as much about fostering a culture of bio-security among
scientists as it is about controlling pathogens," said Dr. Singer. "And that is
why scientists need to be deeply engaged in developing the solution."
Bio-threats
The following is a quick list of some of the most feared bioterrorism threats.
All can be deadly. A new law introduced by the federal government aims to keep
them under tight control.
Anthrax
Transmitted through the inhalation of spores, rarely person-to-person
Causes respiratory failure
Can be treated with Cipro
or Doxycycline
Botulism
A food-borne toxin
Causes gastrointestinal symptoms, blurred vision, possible muscle paralysis or
airway obstruction
Can be treated with an antitoxin
Plague
Transmitted person-to-person or animal-to-person
Causes fever
and brochopneumonia
A number of medications can be used as treatment
Smallpox
Transmitted through airborne droplets, can be communicated person-to person
Causes flu-like symptoms, fever, rash, scabs
There is no known treatment.
