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Abbreviated
and full names of organisations
Some organisational abbreviations which are confined to a single subject
area map are not given here, as they are easily understood by moving
through that map.
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| ACAF |
Advisory Committee on Animal
Feedingstuffs |
|
| ACDP |
Advisory Committee on Dangerous
Pathogens |
|
| ACGM |
Advisory Committee on Genetic
Modification |
|
| ACGT |
former Advisory Committee
on Genetic Testing |
|
| ACNFP |
Advisory Committee on Novel
Foods and Processes
|
|
| ACRE |
Advisory Committee on Releases
to the Environment
|
|
| AEBC |
Agriculture and Environment
Biotechnology Commission
|
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| APC |
Animal Procedures Committee |
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| APHIS |
USDA Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service |
|
| BIGRAG |
Biotechnology Industry Government
Regulatory Advisory Group
|
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| BSI |
British Standards Institution |
|
| CEN |
Comité Européen
de Normalisation |
|
| CPMP |
EMEA Committee for Proprietary
Medicinal Products |
|
| CVMP |
EMEA Committee for Veterinary
Medicinal Products |
| DARDNI |
Department of Agriculture
and Rural Development Northern Ireland |
| Defra |
Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs |
| DfT |
Department for Transport |
| DH |
Department of Health |
| DHHS |
US Department of Health and
Human Services
|
| DTI |
Department of Trade and Industry |
| ECO |
DTI Export Control Organisation
|
| EESC |
European Economic and Social
Committee
|
| EFSA |
European Food Safety Authority
|
| EMEA |
European Agency for the Evaluation
of Medicinal Products |
| EPA |
US Environmental Protection
Agency |
| EPO |
European Patent Office |
| EU |
European Union |
| FAO |
UN Food and Agriculture Organization |
| FAWC |
Farm Animal Welfare Council |
| FCO |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
| FDA |
US Food and Drug Administration |
| FSA |
Food Standards Agency |
| GAIC |
Genetics and Insurance Committee |
| GTAC |
Gene Therapy Advisory Committee |
| HFEA |
Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority |
| HGC |
Human Genetics Commission |
| HMCE |
Her Majesty’s Customs
and Excise |
| HMSO |
Her Majesty’s Stationery
Office |
| HSC |
Health and Safety Commission |
| HSE |
Health and Safety Executive |
| ICH |
International Conference on
Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals
for Human Use |
| ISO |
International Organization
for Standardization |
| MCA |
Medicines Control Agency |
| MDA |
Medical Devices Agency |
| MHRA |
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory
Agency |
| NHS |
National Health Service |
| NIH |
National Institutes of Health
(US DHHS) |
| NSC |
UK National Screening Committee |
| OECD |
Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development |
| OST |
Office of Science and Technology |
| PHD |
DEFRA Plant Health Division |
| SEERAD |
Scottish Executive Environment
and Rural Affairs Department |
| TSO |
The Stationery Office Ltd
(carries out trading functions which were formerly HMSO's responsibility) |
| UKPO |
UK Patent Office |
| UKXIRA |
UK Xenotransplantation Interim
Regulatory Authority |
| UN |
United Nations |
| UNECE |
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe |
| UPOV |
International Union for the
Protection of New Varieties of Plants |
| USDA |
United States Department of
Agriculture |
| VICH |
International Co-operation
on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary
Medicinal Products |
| VMD |
Veterinary Medicines Directorate |
| WHO |
UN World Health Organization |
| WIPO |
World Intellectual Property
Organisation |
| WTO |
World Trade Organisation |
 |
Laws,
legal and official terms
Please note - this is not a full legislative scope, but a glossary
of brief names which are used in the atlas to denote some of the salient
laws and legislative documents.
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|
| ACOP |
Approved Code of Practice |
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| ASPA |
Animals (Scientific Procedures)
Act 1986 |
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| ATCSA |
Anti-terrorism, Crime and
Security Act 2001 |
|
| Biotechnology Patents
Directive |
EU Directive 98/44/EC on
the legal protection of biotechnological inventions |
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| Cartagena Protocol |
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (adopted
in 2000)
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|
| CBD |
United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity
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| CE mark |
mark applied to industrial
products, including medical devices, representing the manufacturer’s
declaration of conformity with relevant EU legal requirements for
their sale |
|
| CFR |
Code of Federal Regulations
- the US repository of updated regulations issued by executive branch
agencies |
|
| Clinical Trials Directive |
EU Directive 2001/20/EC on
the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
of the Member States relating to the implementation of good clinical
practice in the conduct of clinical trials on medicinal products for
human use
|
|
| Cm |
UK Government Command Paper |
|
| COSHH |
Control of Substances Hazardous
to Health Regulations |
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| CUR 2000 |
Genetically Modified Organisms
(Contained Use) Regulations 2000 (Statutory Instrument 2000/2831) |
|
| Deliberate Release Directive |
EU Directive 2001/18/EC on
the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified
organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC |
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| DUEC |
Dual-Use Items (Export Control)
Regulations |
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| EPC |
European Patent Convention
1973 |
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| ETS |
European Treaty Series (Council
of Europe documents) |
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| Eudralex Collection |
The
Rules Governing Medicinal Products in the European Union |
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| EU Novel Foods Regulation |
Regulation 258/97/EC concerning
novel foods and novel food ingredients |
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| Feeding Stuffs Regulations |
all the current Feeding Stuffs
Regulations of the UK and its component territories, dating from 2000
or 2001, as amended |
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| FEPA |
Food and Environment Protection
Act 1985 |
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| FR |
Federal Register - the journal
which publishes US regulations as they are made |
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| GCP |
Good Clinical Practice |
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| GLP |
Good Laboratory Practice |
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| GM Food and Feed Proposal |
COM(2001) 425 Final: Proposal
for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on
genetically modified food and feed |
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| GMO (Deliberate Release)
Regulations 2002 |
Genetically Modified Organisms
(Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002 (Statutory Instrument 2002/2443) |
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| GMP |
Good Manufacturing Practice |
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| HC or HCP |
House of Commons Paper |
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| HFE Act |
Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Act 1990 |
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| HL |
House of Lords Paper |
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| HSWA |
Health and Safety at Work
Act 1974 |
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| IPPC Directive |
EU Directive 96/61/EC concerning
integrated pollution prevention and control |
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| IP(R) |
intellectual property (rights) |
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| ISBN |
International Standard Book
Number |
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| marketing or ‘placing
on the market’ |
tends to include selling a
product, as well as holding, offering, or supplying it to third parties,
for sales purposes - consult each law for the applicable definition |
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| MAVIS |
Medicines Act Veterinary Information
Service |
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| Member State |
Member State of the European
Union |
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| NGO |
non-governmental organisation |
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| NI |
Northern Ireland; also, precedes the Northern
Ireland reference number for a piece of legislation |
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| OJ |
Official Journal of the European
Communities, in which EU law is published |
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| old Deliberate Release
Directive |
EU Directive 90/220/EC on
the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified
organisms |
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| Oviedo Convention |
Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the
Application of Biology and Medicine (Council of Europe, ETS 164;
opened for signature in 1997) |
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| Part B |
Deliberate Release Directive:
procedure for non-commercial releases |
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| Part C |
Deliberate Release Directive:
procedure for commercial releases |
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| PCT |
Patent Cooperation Treaty
1970 |
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| PHO |
Plant Health (Great Britain)
Order 1993 (Statutory Instrument 1993/1320) |
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| SI |
Statutory Instrument - a named
and numbered piece of legislation applicable to the UK, Great Britain,
or England and/or Wales |
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| SR |
Statutory Rule (Northern Ireland
- similar to a Statutory Instrument) |
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| SSI |
Scottish Statutory Instrument |
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| sui generis |
‘of its own class’,
referring to the distinctive nature of property rights such as plant
variety rights |
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| TRIPS |
WTO Agreement on Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property |
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| USC |
United States Code - the US
repository of updated primary legislation |
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| W |
precedes the Welsh reference
number for a piece of legislation |
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| WCA |
Wildlife and Countryside Act
1981 |
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Scientific
terms and abbreviations
In legislation and other official documents, it is always advisable
to check whether a special definition of terms is provided - usually
near the beginning of laws, but frequently near the end of reports.
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| active immunity |
immunity developed by an individual
organism as a consequence of its own exposure to an infecting organism,
biochemical structure, or large molecule (compare ‘passive immunity’) |
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| ARM |
antibiotic resistance marker
- a transgene that confers antibiotic resistance, a trait which is
used to distinguish genetically modified from unmodified host organisms;
the ARM may remain operational in the GMO and its progeny |
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| attenuation |
reduction of the virulence
of a strain of a harmful organism, as in vaccine production |
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| copy number |
the number of copies per cell
of a piece of genetic material, such as a plasmid |
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| DNA |
deoxyribonucleic acid |
|
| enhancer |
DNA sequence in a gene which
enhances the action of that gene’s promoter |
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| ES cell |
embryonic stem cell |
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| excipient |
any material that is intentionally
incorporated into a medicine, other than an active ingredient |
|
| gene |
nucleic acid capable of producing
an inherited characteristic of a living organism; genes include information
that can be converted to biochemical structures, and regulatory sequences
such as promoters and enhancers |
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| germ line cell |
biological cell forming part of a sequence
(lineage) which can give rise, in the normal course of nature, to
an offspring organism |
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| GM |
genetic modification/genetically
modified |
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| GMM |
genetically modified micro-organism |
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| GMO |
genetically modified organism |
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| HIV |
human immunodeficiency virus |
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| host |
the target organism - the
recipient of genetic material - in a genetic modification procedure |
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| in vitro |
(of a process) performed outside
the living organism, in artificial circumstances |
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| IVF |
in vitro fertilisation |
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| LMO |
living modified organism (as
defined by Article 3 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety) |
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| modern biotechnology |
biotechnology based on techniques
which became feasible in the 1970s - in vitro nucleic acid
processes and technology-aided cell fusions |
|
| monoclonal |
of antibodies - derived from
a single antibody-producing cell, and therefore having highly consistent
properties |
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| naked DNA |
isolated DNA, not encapsulated
or combined with other biomolecules |
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| nucleic acid |
large molecule such as DNA
that consists of a sequence of nucleotides, the order of which can
convey genetic information |
|
| nucleotide |
relatively small molecule,
in which one of several nitrogenous base compounds is combined with
other structural elements |
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| oligonucleotide |
short sequence of nucleic
acid, containing a small number of nucleotides |
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| oncogene |
a gene which when altered
can promote or allow uncontrolled cell growth, and thus cancer |
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| passive immunity |
immunity of an individual
organism produced by the transfer of antibodies, or the like, from
other individuals (compare ‘active immunity’) |
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| plasmid |
small, naturally occurring,
auxiliary pieces of genetic material which can be more easily manipulated
and transferred between species than can chromosomal DNA |
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| promoter |
DNA sequence in a gene which
initiates the productive ‘reading’ (rather than simply the
replication) of that gene |
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| replicon |
sequence of DNA that can be
replicated from a single starting point |
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| somatic cell |
biological cell without the potential,
in the normal course of nature, to give rise to offspring organisms
- thus, sperm cells, egg cells, and their precursors are not somatic
cells |
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| substrate |
a specific chemical or a more
complex substance that can be chemically altered by biological organisms
or their components |
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| tissue engineering |
engineering of biological
materials - molecules, cells, tissues, or organs - to repair or replace
an organism’s existing biological structures |
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| transfection |
the transfer of DNA to the
cell of a higher organism, such as an animal or a crop plant |
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| transgene |
a gene (sometimes also includes
a group of genes) transferred by recombinant DNA technology, usually
to a foreign host organism |
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| TSE |
transmissible spongiform encephalopathy,
a class of degenerative brain diseases which individually are usually
observed in separate groups of mammalian species |
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| vector |
a genetic system - a simple
organism, component of an organism, or artificial construct - which
is used to transfer genetic material to a host |
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| xenogenic cell |
a biological cell derived from a different
biological species (in the context of cell therapy) |
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