September 22, 1978 
Joel A. Ventresca 
202 Grattan Street 
San Francisco, California 94117 
(415) 731-1434 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I have the following questions on the new proposed revised 
guidelines for recombinant DNA research: 
Question 1: 
"There is no known instance in which a hazardous agent has been 
created by recombinant DNA technology." (page 33102) 
What is the probability that if a hazardous agent has been created 
by recombinant DNA technology that we would know about it? Probability 
is based upon understanding variables. How many variables are at play 
in the recombinant DNA process? Specifically, what are the variables? 
Can they be listed? Do we fully comprehend all the variables involved 
in the recombinant DNA process? 
Question 2: 
"There are various indications that both host bacteria and plasmid 
or virus vectors containing inserted foreign DNA are less likely 
to survive and multiply than are the original organisms, except for 
the very unusual instances where the foreign DNA supplies some 
function, such as antibiotic resistance, that favors the organism in 
a particular, non-natural environment." (page 33102) 
What are the "various indications" that both host bacteria and 
plasmid or virus vectors containing inserted foreign DNA are less 
likely to survive and multiply than are the origninal organisms? 
What is the probability that the foreign DNA supplies some function 
that favors the organism? Do we know the probability of this? 
Question 3: 
"There is a chance that a bacterial host of recombinant DNA will grow 
more rapidly than if it were lacking the foreign DNA... (The calculation 
given above can be applied here also.)" (page 33102) 
Would the calculation then read as follows? 
Assume that a natural organism constitutes 90% of a population, 
but grows 10 % less rapidly than a new organism counterpart. The 
natural organism will drop from a concentration of 90% to a 
concentration of 0.0001% ( 1 part in 1,000,000) in 207 generations. 
If the generation time of the new organism is 1 hour, this amounts 
to about 8|- days . 
And if not, how would the calculation written on page 33102 
be applied to the statement written above in quotes? 
[A-268] 
