Document 29 
A t 
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 
*’5wov m 
OFFICE OF THE 
ADMINISTRATOR 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
900 Rockville Pike 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reviewed 
the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) submitted by 
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the guidelines 
for research involving recombinant DNA molecules. We appreciate 
the time extension which you gave us for our review of 
these guidelines. 
EPA has some misgivings concerning the possible adverse 
environmental impact of this type of research and especially 
the resulting technology expected. We believe that the NIH 
guidelines are a commendable first step toward alleviating 
these concerns; however, we believe that the guidelines need 
to be strengthened and made applicable to researchers beyond 
the purview of NIH. We are aware of action in that direction 
resulting from current interest in Congress and by the President's 
recently established Interagency Committee on DNA Research. 
EPA will actively participate on that committee. We also 
acknowledge that much of our misgivings and concern stem 
from the lack of knowledge which can only be acquired by 
ongoing scientific research conducted under the safest 
conditions possible. 
In our opinion, the draft environmental impact statement is 
for the most part comprehensive and well written. We have no 
objection to NIH's action in issuing the guidelines. In 
fact we applaud that action as well as the action your Agency 
has taken to spread the influence of the guidelines to 
Appendix K — 158 
