15 
1 EDF suggests that at least one-third of RAC 
2 be composed of individuals who are not enaged in bio- 
3 medical research, and who can reasonably be expected to 
4 represent the interests of the general public. Such 
5 individuals would include representatives from labor, 
6 public interest groups, and elected or appointed public 
7 health officials. 
8 T hese suggestions are very similar to those 
9 contained in the proposed DHEW regs on health system 
10 agencies. 
11 A subcommittee composed of a majority of RAC 
12 members who could be said to represent the interests of 
13 the general public should be the subcommittee empowered 
14 to make recommendations to the Director concerning excep- 
15 tions to the prohibited experiments, and exemptions from 
15 the guidelines. 
17 I will discuss our final two areas of Concern, 
18 confidentiality and the membership and responsibilities of 
19 the institutional biosafety committees simultaneously. 
20 One-third of the membership of each IRC should be composed 
21 of individuals who have not been affiliated with the 
22 institution for at l^ast- a year prior to their service 
23 on the IBC. At least one of these individuals should be 
24 a nondoctoral person from a laboratory technical staff, 
25 elected by that nontechnical staff. At least one person 
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