STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER 
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA $4505 • (415) 497-5715 
Stanford Univmsity School of Medicine 
Department of Midi cine 
Dwition o/ Inftctioui Oiioua 
December 13, 1979 
Dr. Donald Fredrickson 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda , Maryland 20205 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I am writing to urge that you support the proposal of the 
NIH Recombinant Advisory Committee to exempt most cloning in 
£. Col i K-12 from the NIH Guidelines. As an animal virologist 
and infectious diseases clinician, and as one involved in 
cloning animal virus DNAs in E. coli K-12 and other hosts, I 
feel that exempting experiments with E. col i K-12 as proposed 
by the Advisory Committee involves no risk to individual 
research personnel, to others in the population or to the 
environment. The proposed changes will greatly unencumber 
and speed research, and will significantly reduce the cost of 
facilities for research which can be done with this organism. 
Sincerely yours 
William S. Robinson, M.D. 
Professor of Medicine 
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