Tab C - Page 27 
experiment. In light of the importance of the 
applicability of NEPA to all deliberate release 
experiments conducted by entities receiving recombinant 
DNA funding from NIH, a corrective public notice should 
be issued on this point. 
Turning to the question of whether a programmatic 
EIS is necessary for the NIH activities involved in 
the review and the decisions on such experiments, we 
wish to state the public notice discussion of that 
issue is totally inadequate. The notice fails to 
reflect an objective and even handed approach to the 
question. The court of appeals made it 
abundantly clear that the NIH was under an obligation 
to undertake a "reasoned consideration" of the factors 
relevant to resolving that issue. Slip op. at 32. 
"Since NIH has given no serious consideration to 
whether a programmatic EIS is justified, we cannot 
evaluate its claims that deliberate release experiments 
are neither so 'cumulative' or 'connected' that a 
programmatic EIS is required under the CEQ regulations, 
nor so 'similar' that a programmatic EIS may not be 
'the best way to assess adequately' their environmental 
effects. 40 C.F.R. [Sec.] 1508.25." 
The public notice reflects a NIH's continued 
refusal to give serious consideration to the issue. 
The discussion of that issue consists primarily of a 
cryptic reiteration of the arguments made in court 
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