THE SALK INSTITUTE 
December 27, 1979 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Office of the Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I have recently received a copy of the Federal Register issued on 
Friday, November 30, 1979, proposing new guidelines for recombi- 
nant DNA research. I have carefully read the arguments leading to 
the proposed new guidelines in Section IH-O (pp. 69245). I think 
the risk assessment experiments, the report from Dr. Brenner, and 
the comments of various immunologists regarding auto-immune disease 
potential of the recombinant DNA considerably diminish the hazards 
associated with recombinant DNA technology. 
I fully support your contention that all experiments using E . c oli K-12 
host vector systems be carried out at a PI + EK1 level. 
Best wishes . 
Sincerely, 
4 
I 
i / ' i : 
Inder M. Verma 
Associate Research Professor 
I MV /eg 
[ 613 ] 
Post Office Box 85800, San Diego, California 92138 • Telephone (714) 453-4100 
TWX 910 3371283 SALK SD ULA 
