The following may be considered as some of the safeguards that should involve in any research in genetic engineering.
1. Harmful genes such as those coding for toxins and antibiotics should not be cloned without extreme precautions.
2. Animal genes, genes of tumor viruses should not ordinarily be cloned in bacteria or others microbes.
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3. Laboratory facilities should be such that there should be virtually no possibility of the escape of genetically altered microbe.
In addition to scientists even the other ordinarily personnel of the laboratory should be thoroughly briefed about the dangers of carelessness before they are employed. Workshops on precautionary measures should be conducted periodically so that no one violates them.
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There should be mandatory check of laboratory equipments of cabinets, hoods and other glassware to see that they are micro free when they are taken out of the laboratory.
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Laboratory should also possess special equipments like negative pressure rooms, safety cabinets, special traps and drainage etc., to prevent the possible escape of the microbe.
4. Use of microbes which can live only in special environmental conditions should be picked up for genetic engineering research because even if these organisms escape into the environmental after genetic alteration they will not survive in the normal environmental conditions so that the chances of their rapid spread are very less.
5. As far as possible cloning vectors should be non conjugative plasmids because even if they are uncontrolled they will not be able to promote their own transfer by conjugation.
6. The cloned vector should be sufficiently modified or altered in such a way that it will not be able to express itself in any environment but can do so only under special circumstances like a particular host strain that are normally not available.
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The genetic alteration must be such that in case it is transferred to another microbe it should prove lethal to it.
7. The cloning organisms should be modified in such a way that after cloning they depend upon very special conditions of existence which can be provided only in a laboratory and are not available in the environment.
8. Attempts are being made to produce “crippled microbes” for use in genetic engineering research. The genome of these microbes is altered and disabled in such a way that if they escape from the special laboratory conditions them will not survive.