TWIN CITIES 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 
Boynton Health Service 
410 Church Street S.E. 
Minneapolis. Minnesota 55455 
February 1, 1982 
Director, Office of Recombinant DMA Activities 
National Institutes of Health 
Building 31, Room 4AS2 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Sir: 
The University of Minnesota Institutional Biosafety Committee has 
reviewed the two proposals covering the major revision of the NIH Guidelines 
for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules. The Coomlttee unanimously 
favors the Gottesman proposal over the RAC proposal for the following 
reasons: 
The former retains certain prohibitions which we feel 
provide minimal safeguards and an element of protection 
against high risk experiments. 
The Gottesman proposal would greatly simplify the current 
guidelines, eliminating considerable confusion, while 
creating a much more usable guide for experimental 
scientists to follow. 
Recombinant DNA technology, as It relates to biotechnology, 
has fertilized the growth of a major new Industry. The 
public Is unusually aware of this growth and some still 
perceive It as creating an Inmlnent danger to society. 
The RAC proposal at the present time Is both scientific and politically 
premature, and It should not be accepted. 
Sincerely, 
Dr. Patrick Cleary 
Chairman 
Institutional Biosafety Conmlttee 
PC:jb 
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