The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center 
The Pennsylvania State University 
Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 
717 534-8253 
Evan Pugh Professor of Microbiology 
American Cancer Society Professor of Virology 
Professor and Chairman, Department of Microbiology December 27 1979 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Director, National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I wish to comment concerning Alterations in the NIH Guidelines for 
Recombinant DNA Research. I am the Biological Safety Officer for this 
school and was a member of the working group to revise the guidelines 
for recombinant DNA research. 
It is my current opinion that recombinant DNA research is advanc- 
ing rapidly and is likely to make the first real direct impact that mole- 
cular biology is having on medical practice . Certainly , numerous 
research problems are now going to be attacked much more effectively 
because of recombinant DNA research and while it is impossible to say 
that there is no risk under any circumstance, no real risks have been 
demonstrated thus far. This suggests to me that local registration with 
the appropriate committees should be the main avenue for control of 
research in this area. 
I therefore hope that the guidelines can continue to be relaxed as 
additional experiments are carried out suggesting that the original antici- 
pated risks are not likely to represent major problems for the community 
and population at large. I would suggest that we continue to stress that 
workers in this area should be trained in microbiological techniques to 
minimize the risk of unexpected accidents. 
I certainly thank you for your efforts. 
With best wishes. 
FR/ksy 
1F1 
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