Contained use regulations

L 29 A guide to the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992, as amended m 1996... 

The Contained Use Regulations are administered jointly by HSE and the Department of the Environment. Notification of intention to carry out GMO work is to be made only to HSE however, and enforcement also falls only to HSE including in those premises where local authorities enforce other HSW Act provisions. 

The activities covered by the Contained Use Regulations include laboratory operations, housing and/or breeding of modified animals in animal houses or farm animals restrained by appropriate fencing, the use of growth rooms and glasshouses of appropriate specification and the use of fermenters. Waste streams from contained facilities also fall under the Contained Use Regulations.. 

Chapman suggested a simple framework for relating mechanical design to the level of operational containment. Table 11.1 illustrates this framework for static and dynamic seals (using the contained use regulations terminology). 

The second part of the risk assessment and assignment of appropriate containment levels is concerned with environmental safety. The need for environmental risk assessment has taken on a higher emphasis than previous practice having being written into the EC directives and implemented in the UK by the Contained Use Regulations. 

Most companies have found the environmental risk assessment requirements to be the major new challenge of the 1992 Contained Use Regulations. Up to this point, companies had undertaken very little environmental risk assessment. They also indicated that more information was required to enable them to undertake any meaningful environmental... 

Release of a GMO in the waste stream could be construed to be a deliberate release although it falls within the remit of the contained use regulations. Nevertheless, information from studies on deliberate releases of GMOs could be usefully deployed for contained use operations. The IBP is seeking to collate relevant information for risk assessment purposes. The Royal Commission on Environmental Protection adapted the HAZOP technique as a practical and systematic technique to consider, assess and control possible risks from GMO release to the environment. The technique, termed GENHAZ, has also been tested by the IBP for contained use assessments. We developed an integrated approach to assess the operational aspects of the plant and equipment (as described in section 11.4.5) and the environmental aspects of possible GMO releases. We concluded that a more rigorous environmental risk assessment could be developed than had hitherto been provided by companies. 

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