Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO 
815 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone 202/638-0320 
Director 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
Building 31, Room 4A52 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
This is in response to your notice in the Federal Register, 
April 30, 1980, pages 28904ff, related to the next meeting 
of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) on June 5 
and 6 . 
We strongly object to proposal 18, which would amend the 
Guidelines to require industrial members on the RAC, and 
other things. The RAC has already stepped well beyond its 
authority and mandate by offering review and approval of 
industrial pilot plant and production processes using organ- 
isms produced through recombinant DNA techniques. This gross 
error would only be compounded by any attempt to add industrial 
expertise to the committee beyond that of industrial consul- 
tants who may already be members . 
"The function of the RAC is to review research involving re- 
combinant DNA. Regulations of the use of the results of this 
research in industrial production is properly and legally the 
duty of the appropriate regulatory agencies . Whether or not 
those agencies are currently in a position to properly carry 
out their regulatory functions in this area is a question for 
those agencies, and not the RAC, to answer. 
We would certainly be concerned with anything which had the 
effect of circumventing the intent of Congress. Our members 
look to the legitimate regulatory agencies for protection, and 
not to an agency whose primary function is to fund scientific 
research. 
May 22, 1980 
Sir: 
Yours truly 
Dennis Chamot, Ph.D 
Assistant Director 
DC : gl 
cc: Senator Adlai E. Stevenson 
George Taylor, AFL-CIO 
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