5 
Mr. Thornton then summarized his inpressicxi of the meeting. He felt 
nost chairpersons recognized the veilue of IBCs, but were concerned that 
the focus of those efforts was reccmbinant ENA activities. They did 
not feel one area of research should be singled out for special attention. 
A second concern was the "paperwork burden" associated with the Guidelines. 
A reccninendation made by the Chairpersons to exenpt experiments covered 
by Section III-O of the Guidelines derives from this concern. Dr. Mason 
offered his perception that many IBC chairpersons did not like the formal- 
ity associated with the review ptxxedures and the current structure of 
the IBC. 
Dr. Qotteaian suggested three mechanisms for alleviating some of the 
"paperwork burden": (1) Exempt those experiments falling under Section 
III-O; or (2) Require Pi + EKl oontainrent conditions but dispense with 
the requirement for registration docvjnents; or (3) Require the IBC to 
maintain a registry, but not to review the experiments. In the latter 
case, there could be a requirement for some Institutional officials, 
but not the full IBC to review the docvments. She said she herself 
could not support the first option. She supported the second or third 
options with the understanding that latge-scede (i.e., greater than 10 
liters) explications still be considered as a special case. 
Dr. Baltimore said he would support a motion to exempt experiments cohered 
by Section III-O from the Guidelines, including large-scale experiments. 
He suggested consideration be given to changing RAC to a general advisory 
committee on biosafety. He felt there were many biosafety issues other 
than reccmbinant ENA which deserved cxxxsideraticxi. Er. Mason ccxKurred 
with Dr. Baltimore's views. 
Dr. McCarrity asked Dr. Barkley of the NIH Division of Safety to cxmment 
on the csjrrent status of federal guidelines on ci)emic:al carcinogens and 
on etiolcqical agents. Er. Barkley replied that the CDC guidelines cxi 
etiologic:al agents, which are intended as a voluntary <x3de of gcxx3 prac- 
tice, have been issued in draft form for Garments fran the scientific 
(xmmunity. 
Dr. Barkley said the Occupation^d Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 
responsible for prcmul gating standards to protect American workers from 
exposure to chemical carcinogens, is ccmsidering the problem of carcinogen 
use in researcrh laboratories. Che method of addressing the problem 
would recognize the use of informed judgement by principal investigators. 
The Department of Health and Hunan Services (EHiS) is developii>9 guidelines 
cm cxmtrol of carcinogens, i^hich will apply specifically to EHHS intramural 
laboratories. Guidelines for the use of chemical c:arcinogens in NIH 
intramural laboratories will be issued scxm. 
Dr. Barkley said aspects of new regulations of the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), particularly with respect to the Reaourc* Conservation and 
Recovery Act, were also reviewed at the IBC Chairperacxi's meeting. 
( 33 ) 
