| The Containment Level 3 facility is operated by the Agri-Food Laboratories Branch of the Food Safety and Animal Health Division. This is a provincial government facility that falls within the jurisdiction of the Alberta Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD).
Program Intent
The intent of this program is for the Agri-Food Laboratories Branch (AFLB) of the Food Safety and Animal Health Division (FSAHD) to develop the expertise to test for Risk Group 3 agricultural pathogens. This expertise will allow AFLB to respond to an outbreak of one of these pathogens, and to perform ongoing national monitoring for Risk Group 3 pathogens.
AFLB is a member of the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network and the Canadian Foreign Animal Disease Network. AFLB staff have been trained and proficiency tested in R-PCR and ELISA detection of a number of Risk Group 3 animal pathogens by CFIA at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases.
The Health of Animals Act, 1990, and its Regulations gives Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) the legislative authority to control the use of pathogens that may cause disease in animals. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has published guidelines (Containment Standards for Veterinary Facilities), and this Facility is intended to operate in full compliance with these guidelines.
Use of ARD CL3 Facility by Outside Researchers
The CL3 facility may provide limited space for short term projects to researchers outside ARD. No support lab space (CL2 or less) or office space will be provided to external researchers. Allocation of the available CL3 space is at the discretion of the Manager of the CL3 lab or his designate in consultation with senior FSAHD management.
Basic lab equipment will be available for the use of all researchers with the expectation that all personnel using this equipment will share in the proper daily maintenance of such equipment. Repair of damage to shared equipment due to careless or inappropriate usage will be the responsibility of the offending research group.
FSAHD will provide facility specific training in CL3 procedures to all project personnel that will be accessing the CL3 lab. All project personnel must demonstrate competence in CL2 procedures and will be tested for knowledge of CL3 procedures.
A fee will be charged to outside researchers for use of the CL3 facility. The fee will depend on the number of research staff accessing the containment CL3 laboratory and the specific support needs required to carry out the project. Support needs may include amount of waste generated, amount of equipment brought in, usage of provided equipment, lab animal housing and procedures, and extent of modification to standard lab operating protocols required to accommodate the project. Charges will also be applied for frozen storage of lab materials and long term storage of lab equipment, unless this equipment is left as general equipment for the use of other researchers in the facility.
The CL3 Facility includes a Lab Animal Room suitable for mice or rats with adjacent procedure and necropsy rooms. The Lab Animal Room is operated by the University of Alberta.
The CL3 animal handling facility is not currently certified by the CFIA. This certification must be in place in order for the animal handling facility to become operational. The certification process is expected to be in place by the fall of 2008.
Fees will be charged by both the University of Alberta and ARD for use of the animal handling facility. These fees are in addition to those charged for general access to the facility and use of laboratory space.
All projects requiring mice or rats must conform with the Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines under the auspices of the University of Alberta (U of A) Animal Care Committee.
Information on any study being conducted in the facility, the facility design layout and security protocols must be treated as confidential and may not be discussed by anyone outside of the facility.
An advisory committee will be established with membership from each organization using the CL3, including U of A because of their operation of the lab animal facility. The committee will typically meet twice a year where any issues or concerns may be brought to ARD’s attention. Any issues concerning the management and policies of CL3 lab operation that a researcher feels have not been adequately addressed by ARD may be referred to the advisory committee for their consideration.
In the unlikely event that FSAHD requires the lab space to deal with an incident within its mandate, the Primary Investigator must halt their investigation and vacate the space required. The designation of the FSAHD’s requirement for the space is at the discretion of the Manager of the CL3 lab and the FSAHD. |