3 
Mr. Thornton emnounced that agenda itene scheduled for Friday morning, 
Janu£ury 9, 1981 would be considered on Thursday, January 8, 1981 if tijne 
permits. 
II. MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 25-26, 1980 MEmNG 
Dr. Harris reviewed the minutes of the September 25-26, 1980 RAC meeting 
(tab 978) and said she found them to be correct. She moved for adoption, 
«4^ich wes seconded by Mrs. Cason. Dr. Susan Wright cited an exchange 
between herself and Dr. Maxine Singer at the September meeting concerning 
the composition of biohazard ccnrnittees in the Lhited Kingdom. Dr. Singer 
had drawn a paredlel between the situation regarding reconbinant DMA in 
the U. S. and in the U. K. Dr. Wright had said that the anedogy was 
inaccurate because genetic engineering is regulated in the Uhited Kingdom, 
i.e., the laboratories are inspected and the composition of the local 
Biohazards Gatnnittee is more stringently controlled. Cr. Singer replied 
that she had not intended to draw a pared lei. Dr. Wright requested that 
this exchange be included in the minutes. She edso requested that comments 
by Dr. Krimsky on the survey of California IBCs be included. She said 
following the report on the Cedifomia IBC survey. Dr. Krims)cy stated 
that the )cind of evidence the RAC was preparing to accept in the social 
sciences was not of the high quality that RAC members wcxdd norm£dly 
expect in their own areas of expertise. Mr. Thornton recommended that 
those ocwnents be included in the minutes of the January 8-9, 1981 meeting 
and that the minutes of the September 24-25, 1980 meeting be approved as 
moved and seconded. 
Dr. Ma^is pointed out some typographical errors in the draft minutes. 
The minutes, with the suggested amendments, were approved by a vote of 
17 to 0. 
III. MEETING OF INSTTTVnONAL BIOSAFETY OOmiTTEE CHAIRPERSONS 
Dr. Krause, before reporting on the IBC Chairperson's meeting (tab 977), 
briefly commented on the February 3-5, 1981 meeting of the U.S. - Japan 
Cooperative Program for Reccmbinetfit DNA Research. He said this meeting 
will focus on the guidelines for reseeurch, on host-vector systems, ^md on 
ris)c assessment studies. 
Dr. Krause noted the first IBC Chairperson's Meeting had been held two 
years ago. Since that meeting, the Guidelines had evolved markedly 
with greater responsibility being delegated to the local IBC. The 
IBC Chairperson's Meeting sponsored by the National Institutes of Health 
on November 24-25, 1980, was an attempt to identify problems the IBCs 
might be encountering. In addition, the conference was viewed ty NIAID 
as the first stage in a possible formal evaluation of the functioning of 
IBCs. 
(311 
