science

Select agent

Select agent is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Select agent rather than just read about it. In short: Under United States law, biological select agents or toxins (BSATs)—or simply select agents for short—are bio-agents which (since 1997) have been declared by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety". The agents are divided into (1) HHS select agents and toxins af…

Key takeaways

Select agent belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Select agent to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Select agent from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Under United States law, biological select agents or toxins (BSATs)—or simply select agents for short—are bio-agents which (since 1997) have been declared by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety". The agents are divided into (1) HHS select agents and toxins affecting humans; (2) USDA select agents and toxins affecting agriculture; and (3) overlap select agents and toxins affecting both.

Regulation The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have regulated the laboratories which may possess, use, or transfer select agents within the United States under the SAP since 2001. The SAP was established to satisfy requirements of the Patriot Act of 2001 and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which were enacted in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent 2001 anthrax attacks. Using select agents in biomedical research prompts concerns about dual use. The federal government created the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to promote biosecurity in life science research. It is composed of government, education and industry experts who provide policy recommendations on ways to minimize the possibility that knowledge and technologies emanating from biological research will be misused to threaten public health or national security.

Violations In July 2015, Gregory E. Demske, chief counsel to the inspector general in the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), testified that 30 civil violations of the SAP rules had been identified in the past 13 years, and that violators had paid about $2.4 million in fines. He explained that when the CDC's Division of Select Agents and Toxins detects possible SAP misconduct by an HHS worker, it coordinates with the OIG to gather facts. If it concludes that a civil violation might have occurred, it turns the case over to the OIG for possible enforcement. But if it suspects a crime, it pursues the matter with the FBI. Since passage of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, the OIG had received 68 referrals from the CDC for possible Select Agent enforcement and found violations in 30 of those cases. Notices of violation were sent to 5 federal entities, 3 universities, and 2 other private organizations, all unnamed in his testimony. Demske remarked that no federal agencies had been fined for SAP violations.

List of select agents Tier 1 BSATs are indicated by an asterisk (*).

HHS select agents and toxins

Bacteria Botulinum neurotoxin-producing species of Clostridium* Coxiella burnetii Burkholderia mallei* (formerly Pseudomonas mallei) Burkholderia pseudomallei* (formerly Pseudomonas pseudomallei) Francisella tularensis* Rickettsia prowazekii Rickettsia rickettsii Yersinia pestis* Bacillus anthracis

Viruses Coronavirus: SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) Encephalitis viruses: Eastern equine encephalitis virus (excluding South American genotypes) Tick-borne encephalitis-complex viruses (3 subtypes, excluding European ones) Central European tick-borne encephalitis virus Far-Eastern tick-borne encephalitis virus Russian spring and summer encephalitis virus Influenza viruses: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 virus (exempt from 2024-2027) Reconstructed 1918 influenza virus Orthopoxviruses: Monkeypox virus Clade I Variola major virus* (smallpox virus) Variola minor virus* (Alastrim) Viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) viruses: African VHF viruses: Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus Ebola virus* Lassa fever virus Lujo virus Marburg virus* Asian VHF viruses: Kyasanur Forest disease virus Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus South American VHF viruses: Chapare virus Guanarito virus (Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever) Junin virus (Argentine hemorrhagic fever) Machupo (Bolivian hemorrhagic fever) Sabiá virus (Brazilian hemorrhagic fever)

Toxins As of April 2025 these biological agents and toxins are considered to "have the potential to pose a severe threat to both human and animal health, to plant health, or to animal and plant products".

Abrin Botulinum neurotoxins* Conotoxins Ricin Saxitoxin Staphylococcal enterotoxins Tetrodotoxin 2 Type A trichothecenes: Diacetoxyscirpenol T-2 toxin

Overlap select agents and toxins

Bacteria Bacillus anthracis* Burkholderia mallei* (formerly Pseudomonas mallei) Burkholderia pseudomallei* (formerly Pseudomonas pseudomallei)

Viruses Hendra virus Nipah virus* Rift Valley fever virus Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (excluding enzootic subtypes ID and IE)

USDA select agents and toxins

For animals

Bacteria Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides small colony (Mmm SC) (contagious bovine pleuropneumonia) Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (contagious caprine pleuropneumonia)

Viruses African swine fever virus Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic) Classical swine fever virus Foot-and-mouth disease virus* Goat Pox virus Lumpy skin disease virus Peste des petits ruminants virus Rinderpest virus* Sheep Pox virus Swine vesicular disease virus Virulent Newcastle disease virus 1

For plants

Bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum race 3, biovar 2 Rathayibacter toxicus Xanthomonas oryzae

Fungi or fungus-like pathogens Coniothyrium glycines (formerly Phoma glycinicola and Pyrenochaeta glycines) Sclerophthora rayssiae var zeae Synchytrium endobioticum

List of former select agents Select agent regulations were revised in October 2012 to remove 19 BSATs from the list (7 Human and Overlap Agents and 12 Animal Agents).

Human and overlap agents Brucella abortus Brucella melitensis Brucella suis Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1 (Herpes B virus) Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin Coccidioides posadasii Coccidioides immitis Eastern equine encephalitis virus, South American genotypes Flexal virus Tick-borne encephalitis viruses, European subtypes Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, enzootic subtypes ID and IE

Animal agents African horse sickness virus Akabane virus Bluetongue virus Bovine spongiform encephalitis Camel Pox virus Erlichia ruminantium Japanese encephalitis virus Malignant Catarrhal Fever virus (Alcelaphine herpesvirus type 1) Menangle virus Vesicular stomatitis virus (exotic): Indiana subtypes VSV-IN2, VSV-IN3

Plant agents Peronosclerospora philippinensis (Peronosclerospora sacchari) Xylella fastidiosa pauca (citrus variegated chlorosis strain)

See also Biological agent Biosecurity in the United States U.S. biological defense program

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Select agent

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Select agent claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Select agent before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Select agent ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Select agent

In research: Select agent appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Select agent in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Select agent is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biosecurity, Toxins, United States Department of Health and Human Services, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Select agent outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Select agent” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Select agent in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Select agent means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Select agent out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Select agent in simple terms?

Why does Select agent matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Select agent?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Select agent.