19 
Also essential for the effectiveness of the Guidelines is 
v>'orld-v/ide compliance. The more serious potential 
hazards of recombinant DNA research, if they become realities, 
will not recognize international boundaries. The environmental 
consequences of unregulated recombinant DNA research taking place 
outside the United States V7ere not analyzed in the impact state- 
ment, as they properly should have been. 
Assumption (3) The safety procedures outlined in the Guidelines , 
including the us e of biological containment, v;ill always be 
faithfully execu ted . 
This important issue is to be distinguished from v;illful 
flouting of the Guidelines or either individual or institutional 
non-compliance. The question is whether or not the degree of 
error-free performance required for the Guidelines to be as 
effective as the impact statement ir.plies is a realistic expec- 
tation. 
There are many requirements which must be met, both by the 
personnel carrying out recombinant DNA research and the facilities 
in whicli such work is performed. From my own personal experience 
of fourteen years of leiboratory research, it is apparent that 
human nature contains enough v/eaknesses to render meaningless 
any assximptions that errors will not be m.ade, and not be made 
often. It is also well known that equipment failures are rela- 
tively common. When human or mechanical failure results only 
Appendix K — 73 
