INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE 
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
2101 CONSTITUTION AVENUE WAS H I NGTON, D. C. 204IS 
May 28, 1982 
William J. Gartland, Jr., Ph.D. 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
NIAID/National Institutes of Health 
Building 31, Room 4A52 
Bethesda MD 20205 
Dear Bill: 
With reference to the No vick/Goldstein letter on use of molecular 
cloning for deliberate construction of biological weapons, I offer the 
following comment. 
The military interest in recombinant DNA technologies for purposes 
of "defense" is a reality. I strongly endorse explicit prohibition of 
deliberate misuse of molecular cloning and any other biomedical 
technologies. That was one reason wlty I objected to making the 
guidelines voluntary (see attached letter of February 1, 1982, to Ray 
Thornton). There is, I believe, an interagency agreement to abide by the 
guidelines, and that Includes the Department of Defense. Thus, while not 
the determining factor, non-compliance with the guidelines would, if 
nothing else, call attention to the fact that molecular cloning 
techniques were being used for biological warfare purposes. 
I hope that RAC will discuss this issue at the next meeting so that 
an explicit prohibition to the construction of biological weapons by 
molecular cloning can be recommended. 
Sincerely, 
Elena 0. Nightingale, M.D., Ph.D 
Senior Scholar-in-Resldence 
Attachment 
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