2 
Question 4: 
"Inadvertent dispersal of such viruses outside the laboratory might 
result in entry of the recombinant DNA into cells of living organisms." 
(page 33103) 
If dispersal of recombinant DNA outside the laboratory has 
happened and/or will happen what is the probability that we would know 
about it? How would we know? How would we not know? 
Question 5 '• 
Are the proposed Federal guidelines substantially less restrictive 
than the current ones? If so, can the parts of the current Federal 
guidelines that are being proposed as being less restrictive be 
listed and the specific reasons why included next to them? 
Question 6: 
What specific types of experiments in recombinant DNA research are 
prohibited by the proposed revised Federal guidelines? In each type 
of banned experiment why is the experiment prohibited (specifically 
what are the reasons)? 
Question 7: 
" Only limi ted information concerning the effect of foreign DNA 
insertions on the survival or transferability of plasmid and viral 
vectors is available." (page 33103) 
"...very li ttle is understood about the totality of the genetic makeup 
of a given organism or species contributes to its competitive advantage 
..." (page 33102) 
"...plasmids, the factors contributing to their maintenance or loss 
from cells in natural environments, even without insertion of a 
foreign DNA, are not clearly understood . " (page 33102) 
"Experiments carried out during the last few years have yielded only 
minimal information on the stability of plasmids containing foreign 
DNA in host cells, or on the stability of the foreign fragment 
itself." (page 33102) 
"...consideration of the loss of the plasmids in natural environments- 
the important point for matters of safety- the stability of the plasmid 
or recombined DNA under ordinary, or nonselective , conditions needs 
to be known." (page 33102) 
"...no generalization concerning the effect of a foreign DNA fragment 
on transferability can be made . " (page 33103) 
With these statements in mind, I would like to see a more 
complete description of what we do not know about recombinant DNA 
research. What are the areas of our ignorance? What do we clearly, 
positively, and undisputedly know? What areas in recombinant DNA 
technology are disputed? What is unknown? What are the barriers or 
boundaries of our ignorance? 
[A-269] 
