69216 
Federal Register / Vol. 44, No. 232 / Friday, November 30, 1979 / Notices 
within each laboratory in which 
experiments involving recombinant 
DNA are conducted in openface 
biological safety cabinets. 
II— B — 4 — c— (4). Central vacuum systems 
are permitted. The system, if provided, 
shall not serve areas outside the P4 
facility. The vacuum system shall 
include in-line HEPA filters near each 
use point or service cock. The filters 
shall be installed so as to permit in- 
place decontamination and replacement. 
Water supply and liquid and gaseous 
services provided to the P4 facility shall 
be protected by devices that prevent 
backflow. 
II— B — 4— c— (5). Drinking water fountains 
shall not be installed in laboratory or 
animal rooms of the P4 facility. Foot- 
operated water fountains are permitted 
in the corridors of the P4 facility. The 
water service provided to such fountains 
shall be protected from the water 
services to the laboratory areas of the 
P4 facility. 
II— B — 4— c— (6). Laboratory doors shall 
be self-closing. 
II— B — 4— c— (7). A double-door autoclave 
shall be provided for sterilization of 
material passing out of the P4 facility. 
The autoclave doors shall be interlocked 
so that both doors will not be open at 
the same time. 
II— B — 4— c— (8). A pass-through dunk 
tank or fumigation chamber shall be 
provided for removal from the P4 facility 
of material and equipment that cannot 
be heat-sterilized. 
II-B-4-c-(9). All liquid effluents from 
the P4 facility shall be collected and 
decontaminated before disposal. Liquid 
effluents from biological safety cabinets 
and laboratory sinks shall be sterilized 
by heat. Liquid effluents from the 
shower and hand washing facilities may 
be inactivated by chemical treatment. 
HEPA filters shall be installed in all 
vents from effluent drains. 
II— B — 4— c— (10). An individual supply 
and exhaust-air ventilation system shall 
be provided. The system shall maintain 
pressure differentials and directional air 
flow as required to ensure inflow from 
areas outside the facility -toward areas 
of highest potential risk within the 
facility. The system shall be designed to 
prevent the reversal of air flow. The 
system shall sound an alarm in the 
event of system malfunction. 
II— B — 4— c— (11). Air within individual 
laboratories of the P4 facility may be 
recirculated if HEPA filtered. 
II-B-4-c-(12). The exhaust air from 
the P4 facility shall be HEPA filtered 
and discharged to the outdoors so that it 
is dispersed clear of occupied buildings 
and air intakes. The filter chambers 
shall be designed to allow in situ 
decontamination before removal and to 
facilitate certification testing after 
replacement. 
II— B — 4 — c— (13). The treated exhaust-air 
from Class I and Class II biological 
safety cabinets [20] may be discharged 
directly to the laboratory room 
environment or to the outdoors. The 
treated exhaust-air from Class III 
cabinets shall be discharged to the 
outdoors. If the treated exhaust-air from 
these cabinets is to be discharged to the 
outdoors through the P4 facility exhaust 
air system, it shall be connected to this 
system so as to avoid any interference 
with the air balance of the cabinets or 
the facility exhaust air system. 
II— B — 4— c— (14). As noted in Section II- 
B — 4— b— (1), the P4 facility may contain 
specially designed areas in which all 
personnel are required to wear one- 
piece positive-pressure isolation suits. 
Such areas shall be airtight. The 
exhaust-air from the suit area shall be 
filtered by two sets of HEPA filters 
installed in series, and a duplicate 
filtration unit and exhaust fan shall be 
provided. The air pressure within the 
suit area shall be less than that in any 
adjacent area. An emergency lightning 
system, communication systems, and 
power source shall be provided. A 
double-door autoclave shall be provided 
for sterilization of all waste materials to 
be removed from the suit area. 
Personnel who enter this area shall 
wear a one-piece positive-pressure suit 
that is ventilated by a life-support 
system. The life-support system shall be 
provided with alarms and emergency 
backup air. Entry to this area is through 
an airlock fitted with airtight doors. A 
chemical shower area shall be provided 
to decontaminate the surfaces of the suit 
before removal. 
II— C. Shipment. Recombinant DNA 
molecules contained in an organism or 
virus shall be shipped only as an 
etiologic agent under requirements of 
the U.S. Public Health Service and the 
U.S. Department of Transportation 
(Section 72.25, Part 72, Title 42, and 
Section 173.386-.388, Part 173, Title 49, 
U.S. Code of Federal Regulations) as 
specified below: 
II— C— 1. Recombinant DNA molecules 
contained in an organism or virus 
requiring Pi, P2, or P3 physical 
containment, when offered for 
transportation or transported, are 
subject to all requirements of Section 
72.25(c)(1)— (5), Part 72, Title 42 CFR, and 
Sections 173.386-.388, Part 173, Title 49 
CFR. 
II-C-2. Recombinant DNA molecules 
contained in an organism or virus 
requiring P4 physical containment, when 
offered for transportation or 
transported, are subject to the 
requirements listed above under II— C— 1 
and are also subject to Section 
72.25(c)(6), Part 72, Title 42 CFR. 
II-C-3. Additional information on 
packaging and shipment is given in the 
"Laboratory Safety Monograph — A 
Supplement to the NIH Guidelines for 
Recombinant DNA Research.” 
II— D. Biological Containment. 
II-D-1. Le vels of Biological 
Containment. In consideration of 
biological containment, the vector 
(plasmid, organelle, or virus) for the 
recombinant DNA and the host 
(bacterial, plant, or animal cell) in which 
the vector is propagated in the 
laboratory will be considered together. 
Any combination of vector and host 
which is to provide biological 
containment must be chosen or 
constructed so that the following types 
of “escape” are minimized: (i) survival 
of the vector in its host outside the 
laboratory and (ii) transmission of the 
vector from the propagation host to 
other nonlaboratory hosts. 
The following levels of biological 
containment (HV, or Host-Vector, 
systems) for prokaryotes will be 
established: specific criteria will depend 
on the organisms to be used. Eukaryotic 
host-vector systems are considered in 
Part III. 
II-D-l-a. HVl. A host-vector system 
which provides a moderate level of 
containment. Specific systems: 
II— D— 1— a— (1). EKl. The host is always 
E. coli K-12 or a derivative thereof, and 
the vectors include nonconjugative 
plasmids (e.g., pSClOl, ColEl, or 
derivatives thereof [21-27]) and variants 
of bacteriophage, such as lambda [28— 
33). The E. coli K-12 hosts shall not 
contain conjugation-proficient plasmids, 
whether autonomous or integrated, or 
generalized transducing phages, except 
as specified in Section III— 0. 
II-D-l-a-(2). Other Prokaryotes. 
Hosts and vectors shall be, at a 
minimum, comparable in containment to 
E. coli K-12 with a non conjugative 
plasmid of bacteriophage vector. The 
data to be considered and a mechanism 
for approval of such HVl systems are 
described below (Section II-D-2). 
II-D-l-b. HV2. These are host-vector 
systems shown to provide a high level of 
biological containment as demonstrated 
by data from suitable tests performed in 
the laboratory. Escape of the 
recombinant or via transmission of 
recombinant DNA to other organisms 
DNA either via survival of the 
organisms should be less than l/lO 8 
under specified conditions. Specific 
systems: 
II-D-l-b(l). For EK2 host-vector 
systems in which the vector is a 
plasmid, no more than one in 10 8 host 
cells should be able to perpetuate a 
[202] 
