SCHERINC CORPORATION 
60 ORANGE STREET 
BLOOMFIELD, N. J. 07003 
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CABLES: SCHERINC BLOOMFIELD, N. I. 
September 18, 1980 
Dr. W. J. Gartland 
Director, ORDA 
National Institute of Allergy 
and Infectious Diseases 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Dr. Gartland: 
The NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules, issued 
on January 29, 1980, state on page 6749, Appendix E, that "P2 physical con- 
tainment shall be used for DNA recombinants produced between members of the 
genera Streptomyoes and Mioromonospora except for those species which are 
known to be pathogenic for man, animals or plants." These two genera are 
part of the large group of Actinomyoetes which produce therapeutically active 
compounds . 
Although some members of Aotinomyoete8 are pathogenic, most are non-pa thogenic 
for man, animals or plants. Rather than limit the cloning experiments per- 
missible at the P2 level to just non-pathogenic members of Streptomyoes and 
Mioromonospora , I wholeheartily support Dr. Dean Taylor's proposal to include 
all of the non-pathogenic members of the order Actinomycetales at this level 
of containment. 
Sincerely 
Mark Finkel stein, Ph.D. 
Molecular Biology Department 
MF:ds 
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