Biosafety concept: Origins, Evolution, and Prospects

Biosafety is essential to ensuring the safe and effective conduct of biological research by minimizing risks associated with laboratory work and biological materials. This paper traces the historical and conceptual development of biosafety, from its origins in pathogen containment to its expansion into broader domains. In the modern context, biosafety also involves the regulation of genetically modified organisms and the strengthening of laboratory oversight mechanisms. Biosafety and biosecurity are closely related in origin. Biosafety focuses on biological risks within laboratory environments, ​​while biosecurity addresses biological risks associated with non-laboratory environments. The article summarizes the development of biosafety, extracting the evolution of its conceptual framework from a historical perspective, condenses and compares its scientific characteristics with those of biosecurity, and applies the methodology of science history to define its conceptual framework​​.