FEBRUARY 15-16 - MINUTES OF MEETING 
20 
Dr. Rowe moved to accept the proposal as written. Dr. Gottesman pro- 
posed an amendment to Dr. Rowe's motion to the effect that it would not 
apply to non-E. coli K-12 HV systems at the present time. The proposed 
amendment failed by a vote of 6 in favor, 12 opposed, with 3 abstentions. 
During this discussion. Dr. Ahmed asked that votes be recorded by indivi- 
dual. Dr. Krimsky and Ms. King supported this proposal. Mr. Thornton 
suggested that the vote could be recorded by name when a certain number 
of members request such a vote. It was agreed that members could ask 
that their vote be recorded by name. 
The RAC voted 16 to 1 (Dr. Parkinson) with 4 abstentions (Dr. Ahmed, 
Mrs. Cason, Dr. Gottesman, and Ms. King) to amend Sections III-A-l-a-(l) 
and III-A-l-a-( 2) of the Guidelines to read as follows: 
"III-A-l-a-(l) . Primates . P2 physical containment + an EK2 
host-vector or P3 + EK1. Any lowering of containment below 
these levels (i.e., for purified DNA or characterized clones) 
cannot be made solely by an institutional biosafety committee 
but requires NIH approval. (See Section IV-E-l-b- ( 3 ) . ) 
III-A-l-a-( 2) . Other Mammals . P2 physical containment + an 
EK2 host-vector or P3 + EK1." 
XIV. CHARACTERIZED CLONE REVIEW . 
A. Appointment of Working Group. 
Dr. Setlow announced the appointment of a Working Group consisting 
of Drs. Day, Lewis, and Walters to propose criteria for recombinant 
DNAs which can be judged to be characterized and free of harmful 
genes. She noted that these judgments have been made on a case-by- 
case basis to date, and that generalizations have not been developed. 
Several comments regarding generalization of criteria have been 
received in response to a letter from Dr. Setlow. 
B. Review of Submissions. 
1. Review of a Request from Dr. Oliver Smithies. 
The RAC reviewed a request (614) from Dr. Oliver Smithies of 
the University of Wisconsin for lowering of containment for a 
Charon 3A phage, Hs51.1HbY, which contains a fragment of 
human DNA from the structural gene for a hemoglobin fetal y 
chain. Dr. Smithies is requesting that the containment be 
lowered from P3 + EK2 to P2 + EKl. The RAC noted that part 
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