April 15, 1981 
Dr. William Gartland 
Office of Recombinant DNA 
NIGMS, Bldg. 31. 4A52 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Dr. Gartland, 
As you know, a proposal submitted by Drs. Allan Campbell and 
David Baltimore has recently appeared In the Federal Register 
(Friday, March 20, 1981 on pages 17994-7). The proposal Is to 
convert the NIH guidelines to a non-regulatory code of standard 
practice and to reduce the containment levels for some experiments. 
I think this Is a reasonable proposal and strongly support It. 
It can be argued that the mandatory guidelines served a useful purpose 
In raising our level of consciousness about potential biohazards 
and the need to be cautious when entering new areas. But that function 
has by now been amply fulfilled. With over five years of experience 
behind us there Is still no experimental or theoretical argument 
that recombinant DNA poses any significant dangers. Therefore, It 
makes no sense to continue spending government money to enforce 
regulations on a non-existant danger. There are plenty of real 
dangers that need more attention than they now receive. 
Member and Program Head 
Development Biology 
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