UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL Department of Biochemistry 
AND LIFE SCIENCES 420 Henry Mall 
U!l 
Madison, Wisconsin 53706 USA 
Telephone: 608/262-3026/262-3040 
September 11, 1978 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson, Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Building 1, Room 124 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
This letter is in response to your request of August 1, 1978 
for comments on the Proposed Revised Guidelines on recombinant 
DNA research which were published in the Federal Register on 
Friday, July 28, 1978 (part IV). 
These Revised Guidelines are a great improvement over the 1976 
Guidelines. I urge you to approve them. 
It is now apparent that the original Guidelines were an over- 
reaction and a complex bureaucracy has developed because of 
this. I urge you to take the necessary steps to institute the 
least amount of regulation on recombinant DNA research. This 
type of bureaucracy is counter-productive to the advancement of 
biomedical research in the application of scientific develop- 
ments to the betterment of mankind. 
Thank you. 
Sincerely yours , 
Robert D. Wells 
Professor of Biochemistry 
RDW/zb 
[A-104] 
