The Development and Use of Decision Support Framework for Informing Selection of Select Agent Toxins with Modelling Studies To Inform Permissible Toxin Amounts

The Development and Use of Decision Support Framework for Informing Selection of Select Agent Toxins with Modelling Studies To Inform Permissible Toxin Amounts

This paper developed and applied decision support framework (DSF) approaches to assess toxins for inclusion on the select agents list and developed attack scenarios to determine the amount of toxin required to impact public health in order to recommend exclusion limits.

2022

Results indicated that all currently designated HHS Select toxins and none of the other toxins evaluated are recommended for consideration as a select toxin. Aside from botulinum toxin, the SMEs felt that most scientific research can be performed effectively with 1 g of material and this should be considered as the exclusion limit. For botulinum toxin, 10 mg of purified solution is reasonable.