SEPTEMBER 6-7 - MINUTES OF MEETING 
29 
Dr. Krause made a brief statement on risk-assessment. He noted that 
the final plan for an NIH Program to Assess the Risks of Recombinant 
ENA Research will appear shortly in the Federal Register . The July 
Recombinant DNA Technical Bulletin reports on sane results from NIAID 
contractors. Dr. Krause stated that quarterly reports of progress from 
contractors will be shared with the Risk-Assessment Subcommittee before 
their next meeting. He added that NIAID is searching for a Special 
Assistant to the Director for Risk-Assessment. Regarding a Falmouth 
type risk-assessment conference, he noted that any proposed conference 
will cost money and next year's budget is unclear. The cost of any 
conference must be we ighed against other research activities. Dr. Krimsky 
requested that Dr. Stuart Levy be invited to the next RAC meeting to present 
his results. 
Dr. Krimsky directed to Mr. Thornton a question dealing with the conference 
which the Risk- Assessment Subcommittee suggested. He asked whether such 
a conference should still be held in view of the RAC Recommendation (see 
Item VI above) "exempting" most work with E. coli K-12, and whether perhaps 
interest should be directed to other HV systems. Dr. Novick stated that 
the vote yesterday reflected an opinion that when E. coli K-12 is used as a 
host the risk is very low. This does not mean that there is absolutely 
no risk, and Dr. Novick felt that the RAC should be alert to any possible 
unexpected occurrences. Dr. Baltimore stated that he did not believe 
that a conference is necessarily the best way to proceed at this point. 
He would prefer to wait until an Assistant for Risk- Assessment has been 
found, and reports on the available data. Dr. Novick suggested that a large 
amount of information and protocols can be generated without a large 
meeting. Dr. Young suggested the possibility of using two forthcoming 
meetings to set up workshops; the Infectious Disease Society meeting and 
the American Society for Microbiology meeting in the spring. This would 
also provide input from people involved in a variety of different endeavours. 
Dr. Baltimore added that workshops are a formal part of the ASM program. 
Dr. Young volunteered to look into the question of organizing a workshop 
at the spring ASM meeting. 
XV. AGROBACTERIUM TUMEFACIENS HOST-VECTOR SYSTEMS 
Dr. Broadbent reviewed the request from Dr. Mary Dell Chilton of the 
University of Washington for approval to transfer cloned fragments frcm 
any nonprohibited source into Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing Ti or 
a tumor inducing plasmid under physical containment conditions one step 
higher than that required for the cloned DNA in an EKl or HV system 
(707/2, 721). She also requested permission to transfer cloned DNA into 
plant parts at the same containment level. Dr. Broadbent noted that at 
the last meeting permission was given for P3 containment for specific 
experiments using Agrobacterium tumefaciens . He recommended that the 
RAC accept the proposal as written. Dr. Zaitlin concurred. Dr. Novick 
Cl 78] 
