September 15, 1978 
COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED REVISED GUIDELINES FOR RECOMBINANT DNA 
RESEARCH BY: 
Oscar L. Miller, Jr ., Ph.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of 
Biology of the University of Virginia and Member of the National Academy 
of Sciences. 
As a non-user, I would like to briefly comment on the Proposed Revised 
Guidelines from three points of view: in my capacity as Chairman of a 
department in which recombinant DNA research is ongoing, in my capacity as 
head of an institutional committee charged with evaluation of the need and 
feasibility for a P3-level Physical Containment Facility, and as a colleague 
and friend of many of the scientists involved in the use of recombinant DNA 
techniques to study the structure and regulation of genetic activity. 
As chairman of a department containing faculty members interested in 
using recombinant DNA techniques, I have an obligation to foster conditions 
that will advance the careers of such faculty; but I also have a higher 
obligation to insure the safety of all the personnel of my department from 
biohazards of all kinds. As it became evident that recombinant DNA techniques 
would be powerful experimental probes, we early-on held open departmental 
meetings to discuss the pros and cons of the use of such techniques. After 
careful consideration of the original Guidelines and conversations with trusted 
knowledgeable colleagues in this field, I became convinced that the recombinant 
experiments being proposed by certain members of my faculty would be safe if 
carried out under the conditions required by the Guidelines. To this end, I 
supported the appointment of am institutional Conmittee on Recombinamt DNA 
Reseairch responsible for the approval and monitoring of physical containment 
facilities amd the experiments done therein. The committee as appointed 
contains, in addition to knowledgeable basic biological scientists, 
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