biological containment

Restricting the movement of organisms from the laboratory. Can take two forms: making the organism unable to survive in the outside environment, or making the outside environment inhospitable to the organism. For micro-organisms, the favoured approach is to engineer organisms to require a supply of a specific nutrient that is usually available only in the laboratory. For higher organisms (plants and animals), it is more possible to ensure that the outside environment is unsuited to growth, spread and reproduction.