May 21-23 - MINUTES OF MEETING 
12 
B. Proposed Risk Assessment Plan 
Dr. Richard Krause, Director, NIAID, mentioned that 
ORDA is being transferred to NIAID. With regard to 
risk assessment, he stated that Dr. Fredrickson had 
asked him to set up a working group to propose a plan 
on risk assessment as requested by the Secretary at 
the time of issuance of the 1978 Guidelines. 
Dr. Gottesman, a member of the Subcommittee on Risk 
Assessment, said that the RAC should discuss whether 
recruitment of a senior scientist is appropriate, and 
whether the proposed plan makes assumptions with which 
the RAC agrees. She said that the RAC will need to 
recamend a priority list of experiments. Dr. Williams 
stated that recruitment of a senior scientist (Special 
Assistant for Risk Assessment) is reasonable if the RAC 
subcommittee provides detailed critiques and if the 
senior scientist gives them serious consideration. 
Dr. Krimsky said that the polyoma experiment should not 
be cited in the plan if there is disagreement as to its 
interpretation. He said that he endorses the recruitment 
of a high-level scientist with a concern for public 
health. Dr. Baltimore stated that interpretation of 
existing data is essential, and requires a senior 
scientist. With regard to funding mechanisms. Dr. Krause 
stated that the appropriate mix of contract and grant 
support for the program would have to be determined. 
Dr. Baltimore recommended that the Request for Application 
mechanism be tried. Dr. Kutter also endorsed this. In 
response to a question, Dr. Krause indicated that some 
risk assessment experiments can be initiated before the 
whole plan is in place. Dr. Baltimore noted that investi- 
gators could be encouraged to add simple risk assessment 
experiments to ongoing projects. 
C. Report of Phage and Plasmid Subcommittee Meeting 
with Recombinant DNA Contractors 
The RAC discussed a report (653) of the Phage and Plasmid 
Subcommittee meeting with recombinant DNA contractors on 
March 19, 1979. Dr. Kutter noted that Dr. Levy's data 
suggest a difference in survival of \1716 when it is 
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