MINUTES OF MEETING - March 6-7 
8 
VI. PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION OF PIANT PATHOGENS 
Dr. Brill began discussion of tabs 821, 822 and 843/6. He said that 
'Mr. M. T. Goff, U. S. Department of Agriculture, (USDA) and Dr. Philip 
D. Harriman, National Science Foundation (NSF) requested the inclusion 
of a proposed Section IV on plant pathogens within Appendix B of the Guide- 
lines. Dr. Brill said that in his estimation this proposed addition does 
not provide readers of the Guidelines with useful information. Dr. Zaitlin 
said that the proposal resulted from an attempt to classify plant pathogens 
on the basis of risk. A Workshop on Risk Assessment of Agricultural 
Pathogens on March 20-21, 1978, recommended that plant pathogens should 
be classified on the basis of whether or not they are quarantined. 
Dr. Zaitlin said the major thrust of the proposal before the RAC was to 
instruct investigators unfamiliar with plant pathogens to obtain a permit 
for transporting the organisms. He agreed that the inclusion of the 
proposed Section IV is not extremely useful, but said no harm would 
result from including it in Appendix B. Dr. Zaitlin said that minimally 
a footnote providing instructions on obtaining a USDA permit should be 
included in the Guidelines. 
Dr. Talbot said that Dr. Fredrickson had considered the inclusion of the 
proposed Section IV of Appendix B in the 1978 Guidelines but decided against 
this because the rest of Appendix B is merely a republication of classifi- 
cations previously promulgated in other published documents whereas this is 
not, and also because the text of the Guidelines does not refer to such 
a classification, i.e., nowhere in the Guidelines does it matter whether a 
plant pathogen is "Class 1A" or "Class IB." 
Dr. Tblin said that some plant pathogens are comparable to CDC Class 5 
organisms. She added that USDA would like the NIH Guidelines to indicate 
that regulations concerning such organisms exist. She stated that USDA 
recommends approval of the proposal as published in the Federal Register . 
Dr. Zaitlin moved that those sections of the Guidelines which refer to 
plant pathogenic organisms should carry a footnote. The footnote would 
indicate that a USDA permit is required for import and interstate transport 
of plant pathogens and tell where permits can be obtained. The proposed 
footnote published in the Federal Register would be the language used. 
The motion was unanimously approved by a vote of twenty in favor, none 
opposed. 
VII. PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF SECTION III-O 
Dr. Gottesman noted that tab 823 (843/3) is a letter from Dr. Stuart 
Levy of Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Levy suggests that 
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