14 
"The Chaintan of the RAC appoint a study group conprised of RAC 
meniDers and others deened appropriate." 
Dr. Carpbell asked whether the woidcing group would 2K:tually solicit public 
oomment or whether it would offer suggestions to RAC on mechanisms for 
soliciting odTront. Dr. Harris envisaged the working group offering sugges- 
tions on mechanisms. Dr. Caipbell said he would prefer the working group 
begin soliciting comment ^uld suggested the motion be rephrased to state 
this. Dr. Harris aigreed. Dr. Williams asked if comment would be solicited 
before reocmmendations are fiormulated. He felt it was more practical to 
seek input after a reccnnendation has been formulated. 
ft:. Harris replied that she origin^LLly envisaged the working group formu- 
lating reconmendations, and RAC subsequently soliciting comment. She 
was not, however, adverse to Dr. Campbell's proposition. Dr. McKinney 
suggested that RAC should not hamstring the working group with specific 
guidance as to how to obtain public in^t. 
Mr. Pauker suggested that evidence supporting the premise that there is no 
risk in recombinant DNA manipulations beyond those due to the constituent 
parts, should be assembled and criticedly evaluated. It should edso be 
publicly available. Dr. Goldstein supported this position and asked if 
Dr. Harris vixxild erfd this to her motion. Dr. Harris replied that her 
proposal ^dre^dy implicitly included this change. 
Dr. Williams asked if Dr. Harris would accept an amendment deleting the 
reference to soliciting public input. She replied she would not. 
Dr. Qottesman offered an erondment which would delete item (e) from its 
current place in Dr. Harris' proposed and instead add at the end of the 
proposal the sentence: "RAC will solicit public cament on this proposal." 
Ek-. Norberg of Monsanto Corporation pointed out that the NIH Guidelines' 
v«re not regulations and questioned whether langueige identifying them as 
regulations should be included in Dr. Harris' proposal. Dr. Harris replied 
that she meant the Guidelines as currently constituted versus a standard 
code of practice, and amended the language to eliminate any reference to 
"regulations." 
Cr. Carpbell requested a clarification of the amended languaige proposed 
by Dr. Gottesman. He suggested that the last sentence should read: "Public 
comment will be solicited on the proposal." Drs. Gottesman and Harris 
agreed. 
Mr. 'Ihomton called the vote on Dr. Harris' amended substitute motion. 
Dr. Harris reread the motion as follows: 
"The Chairman of the RAC appoint a study group conposed of 
RAC members and any others deemed appropriate to review existing 
recombinant DMA Guidelines. Such review to include but not be 
limited to: (a) the present need for the Guidelines in their 
existing form and procedures, as opposed to a voluntary standard 
[ 103 ] 
