Attachment IV - Page 2 
without defining who or what they may be. The procedural 
structure should assure meaningful part icipat ion by interested 
members of the public, including representatives of groups, 
before final recommendations on any particular proposal are made. 
A given proposal may raise value-laden social and ethical 
issues that require more than the application of technical or 
scientific disciplines by the working group as well as by those 
groups that propose specific studies. There may be need for 
qualified representatives of the social sciences, including 
theologians, ethicists, social philosophers, anthropoligists, and 
economists, as well as micro-biologists and various medical 
experts. The existence of only one or two representatives of 
such other disciplines may not be sufficient to recognize the 
potential issues or to resolve them. 
In Part I, B, 5, "Qualification of Investigators" etc., it 
is requested that the "relevant training and experience of the 
personnel" be disclosed (with a cross-reference in paragraph a to 
Section III-D, which should have been to Section 1 1 1 — E ) . 
Reference is made both to "medical and nonmedical" professional 
personnel. We suggest that the document be amended to list those 
disciplines that the Working Group considers may be relevant in 
the development of such studies and proposals. 
In keeping with its limited function, much of the Points to 
Consider is simply a listing of relevant questions with virtually 
no guidance at this time as to what would or would not be 
acceptable to the working group or to the RAC in terms of 
potential risks and offsetting benefits involved, or of value 
issues raised. We refer particularly to most of the questions 
asked in Part I. We recommend that as promptly as possible, as 
experience is gained, the working group begin the more difficult 
task of addressing such risk-benefit and value-resolution issues 
questions utilizing the inter-disciplinary approach appropriate 
for such an endeavor. This task should not be deferred until the 
RAC and the NIH are faced immediately with proposals with 
long-term consequences as discussed in the Introduction (11) and 
referred to above. 
The working group should develop criteria for Part II 
(Special Issues) immediately, rather than simply ask the 
questions there posed. Procedures should be proposed now that 
applicants would be required to follow to assure accurate 
information to the public on issues of 
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