INDUSTRIAL PRACTICES SUBCOMMITTEE 
OF THE FEDERAL INTERAGENCY 
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON RECOMBINANT 
DNA RESEARCH 
Minutes of the Third Meeting* 
Thursday, September 4, 1980 
1 :00 to 3:00 p .m. 
Room 3104, New Executive Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 
Chairman's Introduction 
Dr. Omenn stated that he is impressed with how much the Subcommittee has gotten 
into the substance of developments in industrial applications of recombinant DNA 
techniques . 
A number of Subcommittee members said they had been contacted by staff of the 
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical 
and Behavioral Research. (Executive Secretary's note: The Commission discussed 
at their July 11-12 meeting, and will discuss again at their September 15-16 
meeting, a message from the general secretaries of the National Council of Churches, 
the Synagogue Council of America, and the United States Catholic Conference stating 
that for "genetic engi neeri ng . . .we believe. . .that no government agency or committee 
is currently exercising adequate oversight or control, nor addressing the funda- 
mental ethical questions in a major way." A July 17 letter from the Commission 
Chairman, Morris Abram, to President Carter says the Commission "decided tc 
survey the field to determine whether there is a need for us to address any etui cal 
issues raised by genetic engineering.") Dr. Omenn said that his advice to the 
Commission has been to educate themselves on developments in this field, including 
the considerable body of published literature, and that, in his opinion, they 
should rank other issues as higher priority for their attention at present. 
Dr. Omenn described as unfortunate and inaccurate the accusation that Federal 
officials and scientists involved in this field think only of their narrow 
interests, and do not consider the wider ramifications of societal debate involving 
the nature of man and societal responsibilities. 
* A list of attendees is appended as Attachment A. 
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