HCM City (VNA) – As many as180 international and Vietnamese bio-safety experts, professionalsand practitioners are discussing bio-risk, bio-preparedness, andbio-terrorism at the 12th Asia-Pacific Biosafety Association(A-PBA) Conference that opened in Ho Chi Minh City on August 24.

The four-day conference aims atgenerating discussions on the various current bio-safety and bio-securityissues of concern at the global, regional, national and technical levels.

The discussions range frombio-terrorism, bio-risk management, challenges from bio-threat in a rapidchanging world of science and technology, and laboratory bio-risk in theAsia-Pacific region.

“With the increasing threat ofbio-terrorism around the world, concerns have been raised about how well we aremanaging and safeguarding infectious agents in our facilities,” Dr ChuaTeck-Mean, president of the A-PBA, said.

“The progress of science and technologyin the last decade has also posed new challenges in bio-safety and bio-security.”

It is with these concerns that A-PBAhas chosen the theme of this year’s conference to be “Biosecurity &Biosafety - New Challenges of Bio Threat in a Rapidly Changing World of Science& Technology,” he said.

Prof Dang Duc Anh, Director of theNational Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, a co-organiser of theconference, said researching and testing dangerous infectious pathogens playsan important role in controlling communicable diseases and helps prevent,detect and respond to dangerous diseases.

“Ensuring bio-safety and bio-securityin laboratories working with infectious pathogens is essential to protectlaboratory workers and the community.

“Today with the changes in science andtechnology, bio-safety and bio-security are becoming more and more concerned.”

The World Health Organisation and theUS Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have issued detailed guidelinesfor bio-safety and bio-security, and based on these guidelines, countries havedeveloped their own regulations and guidelines, he said.

Vietnam is a leading country inSoutheast Asia in developing a legal framework for bio-safety and bio-security,he said.

Thanks to that, its laboratories aresafe, he added.

A-PBA, begun in 2005, represents morethan 800 practising bio-safety professionals from more than 42 countries.-VNA