Some pathogens or biological toxins can pose severe threats to public health and safety. The Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide relevant oversight and regulation, including requirements for packaging, labeling, transporting, shipping, and handling for facilities that transfer or receive these agents. The list of current biological agents and toxins covered under Select Agents regulations can be found here.

Stanford University currently is not registered for the possession of select agents and does not have the programmatic support in place for their use. Please contact Biosafety if you would like to discuss implications for the use of Select Agents.

Based on current understandings, this life sciences research can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies capable of being directly misapplied in a way that poses a significant threat, with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security. For a quick overview of DURC and its oversight at Stanford University click here.