Singapore Forms Expert Panel to Review Bio-safety in Laboratories

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 14, 2003

Singapore Forms Expert Panel to Review Bio-safety in Laboratories

An expert panel has been set up in Singapore to review bio-safety in all local laboratories, Singaporean Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on Saturday.

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An expert panel has been set up in Singapore to review bio-safety in all local laboratories, Singaporean Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on Saturday.

The panel will comprise of four international representatives from the World Health Organization and US Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta and other local experts, the acting minister said.

A Singaporean researcher investigating the West Nile virus camedown with fever on Aug. 26. The 27-year-old patient, who had worked at two local labs, one at the National University of Singapore and the other at the Environment Health Institute of theNational Environment Agency, tested SARS positive a few days later.

But Tests done by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed on Saturday that the patient did have contracted the SARS virus.

"We'll start with the two labs where the patient had worked," said Khaw, "But I want to take it more general -- look at all labs," he said.

"We are pushing life sciences and this time we have SARS. But Iam looking at beyond SARS, when we have more infectious agents," Khaw said, "So we want to raise our capacity to deal with more serious viruses."

Environment Minister Lim Swee Say said on Saturday that Singapore welcomes the independent audit by international experts.

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