> >Does anyone know of an institutions and/or companies that are actively using a permit system for the use of chemicals? A system similar to bio/rad where a user must be issued a permit before acquiring/using a chemical.
>
In the US, the idea faces a specific challenge: almost any chemical can be bought by anybody with adequate purchasing power and there is no legal requirement for the seller to assure that appropriate oversight exists for the use of those chemicals. In contrast, users of radiation have to demonstrate that there is a license that will apply to the use of the isotopes being purchased that will apply to the radiation‰??s use. The biological agent use case is more complicated, but for some biological hazards, there are purchasing and/or sponsoring agencies oversight requirements that are often applied to all work with biological agents (although this process is breaking down as synthetic biology techniques become more wide spread).

These structural differences lead to very different institutional cultures associated with the use of these hazardous materials in the laboratory and as a result, I‰??m not familiar with any institutions that have an active permit system for the use of chemicals in general.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH
rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com

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