STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER 
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 
DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY 
PAUL BERG 
Willson Professor of Biochemistry 
July 29, 1980 
Dr. Maxine Singer 
Bldg. 37, Room 4A-01 
National Cancer Institute 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Maxine: 
I am writing to you about your proposal to modify the 
administrative requirements now demanded by the NIH guidelines for 
researchers using recombinant DNA technologies. I applaud the initia- 
tive you have made and will do what I can to persuade RAC and others 
of the necessity to move to the point or at least the direction you 
suggested. Frankly, as you know, I favor even more substantial era- 
dications in the guidelines, but, perhaps, it is best to begin as you 
have suggested. 
it may be buried somewhere in the pages of Section III and IV that you 
marked up. Investigators submitting a new research grant proposal, on 
an annual non-competing renewal or a competing renewal, must now submit 
approved MUAs for experiments to be done during the ongoing years. The 
annual application to the IBCs and ORDA for renewal of ongoing MUAs is 
in my view one of the more frustrating and useless exercises in the present 
system. Would your proposed modifications remove the necessity to submit 
accompanying MUAs from the grants review process? Could you incorporate 
that into your proposal? I hope so. 
paragraph of your recommendation. I believe the NIH guidelines have served 
their purpose. They, and the process used to produce them, educated scien- 
tists to the anxieties that were raised and developed advice on how to 
perform the work safely. There is now a widespread acceptance and volun- 
tary compliance of these recommendations and I see no reason why that 
would not continue without all the red tape. The time has come to re- 
consider the costs and benefits of the RAC-ORDA establishment. 
There is a point which I did not see addressed, although 
I particularly support the admonition made in the penulttimate 
With best wishes and regards 
. Sincerely 
PB/hk 
[ 291 ] 
