Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Biennial Review and Republication of the Select Agent and Toxin List; Amendments to the Select Agent and Toxin Regulations

In accordance with the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002, we are amending and republishing the list of select agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. The Act requires the biennial review and republication of the list of select agents and toxins and the revision of the list as necessary. This action will amend the regulations in several ways, including the addition of provisions to address the inactivation of select agents, provisions addressing biocontainment and biosafety, and clarification of regulatory language concerning security, training, incident response, and records. These changes will increase the usability of the select agent regulations as well as providing for enhanced program oversight. After carefully considering the technical input of subject matter experts and recommendations from Federal advisory groups, we have decided not to finalize the proposed changes to the contents of the list of select agents and toxins at this time. In a companion document published in this issue of the Federal Register, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made parallel regulatory changes.