OREANDA-NEWS. At a plenary session on December 24, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law on biosafety, taking into account amendments that extend its effect, including to coronavirus infection, as RIA Novosti reports.

The government bill was submitted to the State Duma in December 2019 and adopted in the first reading in January 2020. It is dedicated to the biological safety of the country and defines the activities to ensure it.

The law regulates issues that cannot be part of sectoral legislation due to their complex nature, including health protection and sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population, protection of animals and plants, and environmental protection. The document defines the main biological threats and the organization of a set of measures aimed at protecting the population and protecting the environment from the effects of dangerous biological factors, including synthetic biological agents, as well as the organization of the state information system in the field of biological safety and measures to overcome the antimicrobial resistance of microorganisms.

In addition, the new law defines the powers of federal and regional government bodies, the rights and obligations of citizens and organizations in the field of biological safety.

Leonid Ogul, deputy chairman of the State Duma's health protection committee, said that it is not only about protecting the population from microbes and viruses, but also from the uncontrolled use of antimicrobial drugs that make a person insensitive to antibiotics. Also, according to him, it is also about protecting the population of the Russian Federation from terrorist threats. On the territory of Russia there are about 30 objects that can pose a chemical or biological hazard.