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Team:Macquarie Australia/Quarantine
From 2013.igem.org
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<center><h7> <p> To help aid the iGEM committee and also the molecular biology community, we decided to investigate the importation requirements of various countries in regards to nucleic acids (which incorporates BioBricks) and biological materials. This project arose because our kit sent from iGEM was held up in quarantine in Australia due to incorrect packaging and stringent import regulations.</b></p></h7></center> | <center><h7> <p> To help aid the iGEM committee and also the molecular biology community, we decided to investigate the importation requirements of various countries in regards to nucleic acids (which incorporates BioBricks) and biological materials. This project arose because our kit sent from iGEM was held up in quarantine in Australia due to incorrect packaging and stringent import regulations.</b></p></h7></center> | ||
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Revision as of 03:17, 27 September 2013
Quarantine
To help aid the iGEM committee and also the molecular biology community, we decided to investigate the importation requirements of various countries in regards to nucleic acids (which incorporates BioBricks) and biological materials. This project arose because our kit sent from iGEM was held up in quarantine in Australia due to incorrect packaging and stringent import regulations.
iGEM safety: Quarantine Protocols for various countries. International DNA code: HS 293499
| Country | Regulation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | For non-hazardous biological materials, packaging requirements include: leak proof primary receptacle, leak-proof secondary packaging and outer package of adequate strength. Package must be appropriately labeled. Required paperwork must also be attached. | UK Customs Link |
| Canada | Determine classification. Correct packaging of the biological material classification is needed. | Canadian Customs Link |
| China | Details are only available to premium members on the China customs website. No specific requirements, just a $15 tax. | Chinese Customs Link |
| Australia | The outermost container must be labeled with the name, address, and contact details of the person responsible for the dealings and the Import Permit for the package. The Permits cost, assessment of permit and lodgment of permit in total cost approximately $150. | Australian Customs Link |
Whilst researching the regulations of importing biological materials into countries, we discovered that the information was quite difficult to find. The information was not easily accessed, which further highlights the importance of our team creating a table that includes the key information for many countries in one easily accessible location for both iGEM and the larger molecular biological community. To aid our process we also contacted 22 different iGEM teams worldwide to see if they had any similar experiences or knew of their specific importation requirements of biological materials into their countries.
Researching the regulations of various countries, not only was there little DNA information available, however, the DNA regulations found related only to genetically modified and recombinant DNA. Thus, DNA used in synthetic biological applications has not been addressed yet in any countries’ import regulations that we have investigated. As an ease of access for iGEM teams to observe the Biosafety regulations and ethics of all teams, more links or references to government gene regulation websites could be beneficial for all to teams be required to post on wiki pages, rather than having the references as a safety form requirement.
Some countries, such as Australian and the European Union, have similar regulations and thus, terminology so finding information is relatively easy. However, for countries which have alternative regulations and terminology, it is more difficult to investigate the implications of importing biological material (with regards to synthetic biology) into other countries as they define different biological materials under different categories.
In essence, this table is the start of what can become a complete database of importation regulations of all the countries involved in iGEM. Future work can expand on this to identify the regulations of all the countries involved in iGEM. This will be advantageous to assist iGEM with posting out the kits to teams around the world without hindrance and also it will be beneficial if any teams wish to collaborate together with projects. This could potentially be useful for the wider molecular biological community of researchers who wish to collaborate in different countries via the transfer of samples. Therefore, this initiative is an innovative method to aid the transfer of information around the world.
