INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH 
Minutes of Meeting 
October 12, 1978 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 
The ninth meeting of the Interagency Committee took place on Thursday, 
October 12, from 2:30-4:30 at the National Institutes of Health. The 
meeting was chaired by Dr. Donald Fredrickson, Director of the NIH. 
The meeting was devoted to a review of (1) the NIH Proposed Revised 
Guidelines, (2) the role of the Interagency Committee (IAC) in the 
revised Guidelines, and (3) agency comments on the Guidelines and the 
role of the IAC. 
I. Review of the NIH Proposed Revised Guidelines (PRG) 
Dr. Fredrickson opened the meeting by presenting an outline of 
events leading to the proposed revision of the NIH Guidelines, 
including: 
• Phase I — the promulgation of the NIH Guidelines in June 1976. 
• Phase II — the creation of the Interagency Committee in the 
Fall, 1976; subsequent oversight and legislative review in 
Congress, but no law; and the administration of the NIH 
Guidelines. It should be noted that this experience included 
the deferral of several Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC) 
recommendations by the Director, NIH, due to the lack of 
discretion contained in the 1976 Guidelines. Because of this 
inflexibility, input from the Interagency Committee was 
primarily sought for Congressional policies rather than for 
review of RAC actions. 
• Phase III — began with revised Guidelines proposed by the RAC in 
September 1977 and includes the Advisory Committee to the 
Director, NIH, public hearing in December 1977 at which 
Interagency Committee members participated; the NIH analysis 
and release of Proposed Revised Guidelines and accompanying 
Decision Document and Environmental Impact Assessment in July 
1978; the DHEW public hearing September 15, 1978, again at 
which there was participation by Interagency Committee members; 
and the ongoing NIH analysis and DHEW review of letters from 
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