Page Three 
Dr. Fredrickson 
September 7, 1978 
Violations of the Guidelines result only in "suspension, limitation, or 
termination of financial assistance" (P. 33087) . This is insufficiently 
vague. NIH should establish a ranking of possible violations by possible 
risk to laboratory workers or the carmunity, and set definite penalties in 
each case. Further, violations of the guidelines should be widely publicized 
by NIH. 
Routine medical exams for laboratory workers should be required^ as a respons- 
ibility of the principal investigator. 
Reporting of possible violations must be encouraged. NIH must devise a system 
(perhaps through binding agreements with the institutions) for the protection 
of those who exercise this responsibility. 
Finally, a carment on the RAC itself. It is time to end the practice of experts 
talking to themselves. The RAC must be broadened to include more people who are 
not involved with recombinant DNA research, or indeed, any microbiological re- 
search. It must also include more non-scientists and representatives of labor 
and the general public. This is so because the ccrrmittee must deal with issues 
that go far beyond basic technical issues; it must be representative of the 
community as a whole, because the entire community is subject to the potential 
risks. 
Dennis Charoot, Ph.D 
Sheldon Samuels 
Co-Chairmen 
AFL-CIO Staff Subcommittee 
on Recombinant DNA Research 
[Enclosed with this letter was an article by 
Jonathan King, Recombinant DNA and Autoimmune 
Disease, ^J. Inf . Pis . , 137:663-666.] 
[A-90] 
