15 
Mr. Uiomton noted that RAC had approved a proposed revision of the Guide- 
lines for publication in the Federal Register ^ with the understanding that the 
oonmittee would subsequently review that document and any comments generated 
by it at the next RAC meeting. 
IV. PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF SECTION III-C-2-a AND ADDITION OF NEW SECTION III-C-7-c 
Mr. Ihomton asked Dr. Bems to initiate discussion of the proposal (tabs 
1026, 1035/9) from Dr. Lois Miller of the University of Idaho. Dr. Bems 
said that Dr. Miller requests a nodif icaticxi of Section III-C-2-a of the 
Guidelines. Ihis modification would permit invertebrate viruses to be 
treated as animal viruses are currently treated under the NIH Guidelines. 
Dr. Miller also proposed that a new Section III-C-7-c be added to the 
Guidelines. Section III-C-7-c would read; 
"III-C-7-c. Transfer to Invertebrates. DNA from any nonprohibited 
source [Section I-D] , except for greater than one quarter of a eukar- 
yotic viral genome, v^ich has been cloned and prcpagated in E^ coli 
K-12, may be transferred with the ^ coli vector used for cloning to 
ar^ eukaryotic cells in culture or to any invertebrate organism and 
propagated under conditions of physical containment comparable to Pi 
and appropriate to the organism under study [2A] . Transfers to any 
other host will be considered by the RAC on a case-by-case basis [45] ." 
Dr. Bems asked if there are any reasons for not treating invertebrate viruses 
the same as animal viruses under the Guidelines. Mr. Thornton asked if 
containment problans for insects are of significance in relation to this 
proposal. Dr. Talbot said that this consideration is relevant to proposed 
Section III-C-7-c; this section would deal with introducing cloned ENA into 
insects. The proposed modification of Section III-C-2-a would affect the 
treatment of invertebrate viruses in tissue culture systems. Dr. Bems said 
he had discussed questions of containment with Dr. Tolin of the United States 
Department of Agriculture (USDA), v^o said that she saw no problem with the 
proposal as written. 
Dr. Bems moved acceptance of the proposal to amend Section III-C-2-a and to 
add a new Section III-C-7-c to the Guidelines. Dr. Fedoroff seconded the 
motion. By a vote of eleven in favor, none opposed, and five abstentions the 
RAC adopted the motion. 
Revised Section III-C-2 would read as follows; 
"III-C-2. Invertebrate Host-Vector Systems. 
"III-C-2-a. Invertebrate Viral Vectors. Experiments involving inverte- 
brate virus vectors can be done as follows; 
[206] 
