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Scientific Unions. Some nations carrying out recombinant 
DNA experimentat ion have not promulgated formal guidelines, 
and some do not intend to do so. 
Two. guidelines of most nations have been 
derived directly or indirectly from those of the United 
States, which we re the first to be promulgated, and the 
assumptions implicit or explicit in the United States' 
guidelines have been incorporated in guidelines of other 
nations. Although fine gradations of risk and containment 
are specified in most national guidelines, the basis for 
such distinctions appears to be entirely con j ectural . No 
documentation to support the assumption of risk is provided 
in any of the guidelines examined. 
While the guidelines of other nations have been 
generally patterned after those of the United States, there 
are substantial differences in the various national guide- 
lines. Some have the force of regulations, while others 
are considered simply a standard operating procedure, and 
their procedures and their observances voluntary. Some 
guidelines are concerned only with organisms containing 
recombinant DNA molecules, while others also pertain to 
the recombinant DNA itself. Some have employed an 
encyclopedic approach which attempts to anticipate and 
specify conditions for all possible forms of recombinant 
DNA exper imentation while others have adopted an approach 
[128] 
