FEBRUARY 15-16 - MINUTES OF MEETING 
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The RAC voted 13 to 0 with 2 abstentions to accept the proposal as 
published in the January 15, 1979 Federal Register with the following 
interpretations : 
1. the term "host" is interpreted to be "species;" 
2. viral DNA from viruses endogenous to a species 
is considered to be DNA from the species; and 
3. this does not include exogenous viruses at this 
time. 
A formal proposal will be solicited from the investigators requesting 
approval for heterologous transfer. The proposal will be published for 
comment and considered as a major action at the next meeting. 
XXI. AMENDMENT OF SECTION III-C-2, INVERTEBRATE HOST-VECTOR SYSTEMS . 
The RAC recommended that Section III-C-2 concerning invertebrate host- 
vector systems be divided into two parts. The first part, III-C-2-a, 
would retain the present wording of this section; the second part 
III-C-2-b would enable the use of nonviral vectors. Section III-C-2 
would therefore read as follows: 
"III-C-2. Invertebrate Host-vector systems . 
III-C-2-a. Insect viral vectors . As soon as information 
becomes available on the host range restrictions and on the 
infect ivity, persistence, and integration of the viral DNA 
in vertebrate and invertebrate cells, experiments involving 
the use of insect viruses to propagate DNA sequences 
will be evaluated by NIH on a case-by-case basis [45] and 
will be conducted under the recommended physical containment 
conditions. (See Section IV-E-l-b-(3)-(c) ) . 
III-C-2-b. Nonviral vectors . Organelle, plasmid, and 
chromosomal DNAs may be used as vectors. DNA recombinants 
formed between such vectors and host DNA, when propagated 
only in that host (or a closely related strain of the same 
species), are exempt from these Guidelines (see section 
I-E). DNA recombinants formed between such vectors and DNA 
from cells other than the host species require PI physical 
containment for invertebrate cells in culture since inverte- 
brate cells in culture inherently exhibit a very high level 
[ 74 ] 
