Biosafety: future priorities for research in health care

Currently the public interest in biosafety issues has focussed on the discu ssions surrounding the use of genetically modified organisms, very specific ally on the use of transgenic plants in agriculture. Although many of the q uestions raised in connection with genetically modified organisms are of le gitimate scientific interest, attention should be drawn back to a number of other more classical biosafety research areas, namely the problem of contr ol of new and reemerging infectious diseases, the need for new vaccines, co ntrol of transport and routes of dissemination, biosafety information excha nge and networking, where research results are dearly needed. En the area o f modern biotechnology new applications such as gene therapy and transgenic animals will be on the list of future priorities for biosafety related act ivities and research. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.