Zoning for Biosafety

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Microbiological and biomedical laboratories, or biolabs, are facilities that store and handle biological materials for diagnostic, research, or development purposes. Many of these facilities operate safely in communities nationwide under the same protocols you'd find in a high school science lab. However, a small, but growing, number of biolabs use infectious agents or toxins, such as live viruses and bacterial toxins, to develop tests, vaccines, or other treatments for illnesses that affect human and animal populations.

Following the 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the U.S. and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia, demand for new biolabs increased worldwide. More recently, demand surged dramatically in response to COVID-19, as researchers worked furiously to develop vaccines and antiviral treatments, and governments and investors began to contemplate how best to prepare for future outbreaks. Ongoing uncertainty about the origins of COVID-19 has raised biosafety concerns among biosecurity experts and segments of the general public. Local officials' discovery of unauthorized biological agents, mice, samples of bodily fluid, and infectious diseases inside a hidden private lab in Fresno County, California, in late 2023 provided tangible evidence of the potential risks of unregulated facilities. While a few communities in the U.S. have established local regulations for biolabs, many others are just starting to contemplate whether zoning should play a bigger role in promoting biosafety.

This issue of Zoning Practice explores how some communities use zoning to prevent or mitigate biosafety risks associated with biological research and development facilities. It begins with a summary of key biosafety concepts as well as the market and regulatory conditions affecting biolabs before examining basic zoning considerations and highlighting potential model approaches.

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