Dr. Donald Frederickson 
2 
August 9, 1978 
vectors. 
One other aspect of the Revision seems most important to me. 
It is the increased responsibility given to the institutional 
committees. The flexibility inherent in this shift of responsibility 
should facilitate research. 
Although I fully understand the need to move cautiously in this 
controversial area of scientific administration, I think that it is 
time to be firm about what we believe. For too long, the charade of 
a major bureaucracy overseeing a harmless enterprise has been allowed 
to continue. While I agree that "a capability must be maintained for 
observing any capacity of these experiments to yield harmful products" 
(pg. 33044, from the Director's Decision), I am not happy that "early 
abandonment" of the Guidelines is not being contemplated. With the 
present Revision, most of the more complex containment categories 
will be emptied of relevance and I would very much hope that early 
abandonment of the Guidelines or replacement with simple, good sense, 
safe microbiological procedure will be a matter for discussion in 
the near future. It would be possible to maintain surveillance without 
Interposing a bureaucracy between scientists and their experiments. 
Sincerely, 
DB/mts 
David !>altlmore 
