COMMENTS OF LOUIS J. LEFKOWITZ , ATTORNEY 
GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ON THE 
GUIDELINES AND DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 
STATEMENT FOR RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH 
I General Comments ; 
A, PROCEDURAL COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA 
The procedures by which the National Institute of 
Health (NIH) issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) are at best unfortunate. Issuance of an impact statement 
after grants have been made to conduct recombinant research and 
after publication of guidelines was a per se violation of the 
National Environmental Policy Act, (NEPA) 42 U.S.C. § 4321. 
What is more, the policies which underly NEPA are, in this 
instance, in danger of being totally frustrated unless N.I.H. 
scrupulously adheres in the future to the letter cuid spirit 
of the Act. 
NEPA was enacted to insure that federal agencies 
consider the environmental consequences of their actions emd 
that in doing so, they consult with the public and other federal, 
state and local governmental agencies . Impact statements 
should be prepared early enough in the decision-making process 
to aid the decisionmaker, and should not be "merely post hoc 
environmental rationalizations of decisions already fully and 
Appendix K — 81 
