176 
1 discussion of the Falmouth Conference in the Environ- 
2 mental Assessment, and Dr. Gorbach's letter is quoted. 
3 But no mention is' made of the letters from Drs. King 
4 and Goldstein and Levin, which also addressed the 
5 Falmouth Conference and take a different view, and 
6 say that any relaxation of the guidelines is premature 
7 at this point. And those very letters were published in 
8 another document put out by the NIH — in the Recombinant 
9 DNA Technical Bulletin — but it is not mentioned in their 
10 Assessment. 
11 Also, there is almost no discussion of other 
12 organisms. While we have page after page going into 
13 E. coli , E. coli K12 , very little, if nothing, is done 
14 with respect to other organisms, and the guidelines 
15 definitely contemplate the use of them. Some are now 
16 being used — Bacillus subtil is , I believe. There are 
17 at least a couple of experiments under way using that 
18 as a host organism, and others. 
19 Now, as to my recommendations, I feel that 
20 it is important to proceed with the promulgation of 
21 changes in procedural and administrative sections of 
22 the guidelines. That would be Part I and Part IV, and 
23 Section II-D, which concerns certification of host-vector 
24 systems. I think there is a need to improve regulatory 
25 mechanisms and create flexibility in the recombinant 
[268] 
