WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY 
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 
DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY 
313/577-151 1 
GORDON H SCOTT HALL 
OF BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCES 
540 EAST CANFIELD AVENUE 
DETROIT MICHIGAN 4820 1 
July 24, 197 9 
Dr. Donald Frederickson, Director 
National Institutes of Health 
9000 Rockville Pike 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Dr. Frederickson, 
I am writing to indicate my strong support of the pro- 
posal by Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee members Wallace 
Rowe and Allan Campbell to exempt from the NIH guidlines, 
experiments in the host E. Coli K12 3 retaining, of course, 
the prohibition of specific experiments considered poten- 
tially hazardous (Federal Register 44, 22315 (1979)) . 
Risk assessment studies have provided strong evidence 
that recombinant DNA experiments in E . Coli K12 do not 
pose any practical risks to public health. Thus, there is 
no justification for continued regulation of these experi- 
ments. Such regulation can only serve to discourage inno- 
vation, stifle creativity and delay or even prevent a num- 
ber of important scientific advances. It is a costly waste 
of public funds and imposes a large and unnecessary bureau- 
cratic burden on scientists, universities and the NIH. 
Unjustified regulation of basic research is a serious 
threat to the freedom of scientific inquiry. 
Paul/tt. Jofmson 
Ass(6ciaj>e Professor of Biochemistry and 
Charrrrtan, Recombinant DNA Subcommittee, 
Institutional Biosafety Committee 
PHJ/dw 
