Biotecnologia e OGMs: o papel da legislação em Biossegurança

Abstract

To work with the manipulation of genetic material, one must know the regulations governing the subject. However, the Brazilian legal system is quite complex, even for those working in the right area, and no doubt even more, for those who perform activities with genetically modified organisms (GMO). There are needs to disseminate knowledge of biosafety legislation among those who perform activities involving genetic material, thus ensuring the effectiveness of the present legislation in our country. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of legislation on biosafety in niche recipients of legislation, identify if the relevant legislation is known and observed by particular group of recipients. In this sense, a study was conducted using an evaluation questionnaire with undergraduate and graduate in Biotechnology from Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), to elucidate the knowledge level of those engaged in research activity with GMO, with regard to the legislation on biosafety. Categorical data were analyzed using frequency distribution in order to obtain the prevalence in the study population. In total the study evaluated 165 participants from undergraduate, graduate and post-doc in Biotechnology and the majority of these was women (65 %). It was observed that students of this courses from UFPel have, mostly, knowledge about basic aspects of biosafety applied to the laboratories. However, 44.8% of respondents did not undergo any training on workplace safety and 52.1% says not to use any personal protective equipment (PPE) in their activities. When asked about legal aspects of biosafety 54.1% said that they did not know the Law 11/15/2005 of biosafety, and 53.5% of respondents could not answer what is CIBio. These data demonstrate that there is limited knowledge about the legal aspects of biosafety and that are needs to be better disseminated. The present study revealed that there was receptivity from academic community to the subject is that it is possible to perform efficient strategies to ensure the effectiveness of legislation on biosafety. The results obtained in this study may be valuable to guide actions in pursuit of knowledge dissemination in legislation within undergraduate and graduate courses in Biotechnology from UFPel.