19th Meeting of The International Federation of Biosafety Associations

The International Federation of Biosafety Associations conducted its 19th meeting on the margins of the ABSA Annual Meeting in Miami on the 18th of October, 2009. Three new Member organizations (Azerbaijan Biological Safety Association, Philippine Biosafety and Biosecurity Association and the Biosafety and Biosecurity Network of Thailand) and three Observer organizations (Biosafety Association of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Korean Biological Safety Association and the Biological Safety Association of Pakistan) were welcomed to the growing IFBA family.

Roundtable reports were given by each Member, Observer and Guest organization present to highlight biosafety and biosecurity activity around the world.

The major focus of the 19th IFBA meeting was the planning and delivery of an international biosafety symposium to be held in 2011. IFBA resolved that the symposium, Biosafety and Biosecurity: Safeguarding Global Health will be held in February 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. The purpose of the conference will be to generate support and commitment of high level officials and policy makers for biosafety and biosecurity. The target audience will be individuals from national authorities within Ministries of Health and Agriculture; public and animal health laboratories; clinical, diagnostic and research facilities; biosafety and biosecurity professionals; architectural and engineering firms; and regional and international non-governmental organizations, associations and working groups.

Dear Colleagues, (Русский)

The Secretariat of the International Biosafety Working Group (IBWG) is proud to announce that the IBWG has changed its name to the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA). This name change became effective during the 18th bi-annual meeting of the organization held in conjunction with the Annual Conference of the European Biological Safety Association in Stockholm, Sweden on 17 June 2009.

During the 17th bi-annual meeting in Reno, Nevada (19 October 2008), the leadership of the organization discussed the expanding role of the IBWG in the international community of biosafety professionals and the increasing numbers of new Members and Observers that are participating in our meetings. To more accurately reflect the global role of our organization in addressing biosafety and biosecurity harmonization, the leadership suggested that a name change be considered. Several potential names were suggested and discussed by the meeting participants. The list of prospective names was narrowed to four possibilities and, following the Reno meeting, ballots were distributed by the Secretariat and Members voted electronically.

The name selected for the organization is the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA). With 13 Member organizations and 9 Observer organizations (including 10 national or regional biosafety associations representing over 45 different countries), we feel the new name accurately reflects the geographical diversity of our participants as well as the expanding role the organization is playing in the international community of biosafety professionals.

The IBWG was honoured to take up the invitation of the Chairman of the Meeting, Ambassador Georgi Avramchec, to be a guest at the Meeting of Experts in Geneva, August 18-22, 2008. In addition we were afforded the most excellent platform to host a side meeting with our members (EBSA, ABSA, ABSA Canada, Industry group) in attendance to present the activities not only to the main hall but in this meeting chaired by Heather Sheeley, Co-chair of IBWG. The side meeting was well attended by approximately 50 persons including Ambassadors, representatives and NGOs for a lively discussion.

Key points from this meeting were:

1. to ensure that our compendium included references to non-proliferation convention
2. to ensure in the educational material that the ethical and obligations of the BTWC were included.

The role of the Biosafety associations was well received and left a strong impression that there was a body of knowledge and responsibility in promoting biosafety practices.

We also took the new poster which received great interest and the following countries came to have a discussion: China, US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Morocco, Singapore, Swiss, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, Tajekestan, Sudan, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and ICLS, WHO, OIE and the Chair of the Meeting.

On April 4th the IBWG convened their first meeting of 2008 in Florence, Italy. This meeting immediately followed the closing activities of the 11th Annual Meeting of the European Biological Safety Association.

Representatives of 10 different member organizations were present for the IBWG meeting along with eight Observers from three countries (Russia, Sweden and the United States).

The Secretariat of the IBWG is the International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Among other things, the Secretariat is responsible for coordinating future meetings of the IBWG – including finalizing and distributing the agenda and the minutes associated with these events – and maintaining the information posted on this IBWG website. The Secretariat will be active in furthering the international goals of the organization.

During the meeting, one of the co-chairs proposed that the IBWG membership consider the approach of “twinning and mentoring” as an effective means by which the organization may assist other organizations who request assistance. The Co-chair proposed a collective action for the membership of the IBWG at-large to identify their respective needs in preparation for discussion at the next IBWG meeting and that all parties come prepared to discuss these needs and/or the contributions they are willing to make. It was suggested that “twinnings” be considered in the context of people-to-people, ministry-to-ministry and institute-to-institute.

Representatives of the IBWG will participate in the August 2008 meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva. During this important event, the IBWG will be provided with an opportunity to address the BWC participants about the critical importance of biological safety and biological security as it relates to research and production of human and agricultural pathogens.

Looking to the Future of the Organization

At the next meeting of the IBWG, a discussion of the organization’s future goals and objectives will be facilitated by the Secretariat. This discussion is important to establish the future trajectory of the organization. An outline of issues and questions will be distributed to the Membership in the coming weeks. The Membership is requested to review these materials, formulate an independent response and come to the next meeting prepared to discuss the history and future of the organization.

In the future, this website will possess links to meetings, conferences and events of interest to IBWG member organizations. Organizations are requested to send relevant information to the Secretariat at ibwg@icid.com.

The IBWG membership intends for this website to become populated with valuable biosafety and biosecurity information of interest to the membership at large. All IBWG members are encouraged to provide electronic documents versions of biosafety and biosecurity regulations and/or guidelines to the Secretariat for posting.

Please re-visit this website over the coming months to see our progress. If you have ideas or suggestions for further enhancements to the site, please send your recommendations to the Secretariat.