Team:Groningen/Regulations
Blue Bio Energy
Regulations
Regulations in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, there are three types of permits for genetically modified organisms.
Contained use.
This covers activities involving the use of GMOs in laboratories, production facilities, greenhouses or animal houses.
Deliberate release.
Any intentional introduction of a GMO into the environment for which no specific containment measures are used to limit the contact of the GMO with the environment. These are mainly field experiments with GMOs, like field experiments with genetically modified plants or clinical gene therapy experiments.
Placing on the market.
Making GMOs available to third parties, whether in return for payment or free of charge. Placing on the market of GMOs is regulated in a centralised European procedure.
The first category (in which all our lab work takes place) is divided into five containment levels: ML-I, ML-II, ML-III, ML-IV, ML-V. These levels roughly correspond to the following classification of microorganisms according to pathogenicity.
1. Micro-organisms that are non-pathogenic for humans. They might still be pathogenic to animals and plants, so the organisms still have to be contained and no animals and plants are allowed in the laboratory.
2. Microorganisms with a high infectious dose (for humans) and poor ability to survive, causing no severe illnesses. Medication is readily available for any illness they might cause.
3. Microorganisms with a lower infectious dose, medium survival chance, causing more serious illnesses and having increased chance of secondary contamination.
4. Microorganisms with a very low infectious dose, that cause serious (sometimes deadly) diseases for which no effective cure is known. The possibility of epidemic spreading exists.
Our project project takes place within the first category. All the bacteria we use are non-pathogenic. This means we can do all our work in an ML-I lab, which was provided to us by the University of Groningen. Since we are supervised by the Molecular Genetics group, our work can take place under their permit.
If our biofilm membranes were to be used in a real RED plant, such as the one at the Afsluitdijk, they would require a Placing on the Market permit. (actually, the Waddenzee is a protected Nature reserve in which all GMOs are banned. But let us ignore this.)