10-25-78 
TO: PRESIDENT SAXON 
FROM: Executive Assistant Wilson 
RE: Proposed Revised Guidelines, Recombinant DNA Research, Federal 
Register, July 28, 1978 
I developed this statement, based on staff analysis and consultation with the 
Chancellors, to let you know the reasons for my positive reaction to the pro- 
posed changes in direction contained in the revised guidelines. I believe it 
will be of interest to Director Frederickson of NIH. 
The proposed revised guidelines represent a substantial improvement over the 
original guidelines in that they are responsive both to the continuing need 
for appropriate safeguards and to the considerable experience of scientists 
since the earlier guidelines were issued. This experience suggests that the 
fears of potential risks from recombinant DMA research were exaggerated, and 
that the practical benefits from such research through improved understanding 
of biological processes and varied applications in such fields as medicine, 
industry and agriculture are potentially very promising. 
Implementing the guidelines has proven to be a complex, expensive, and time- 
consuming process which the proposed revised guidelines try to simplify and 
make flexible. The changes should be advantageous for scientific research. 
Specifically I refer to the reduction in levels of containment for certain ex- 
periments; delegation of primary responsibility for compliance to the institution 
where the research takes place; exempting from the guidelines experiments which 
pose no threat to safety; providing for deregulation of other experiments when 
indicated; permitting certain risk-assessment studies which will enhance know- 
ledge of potential hazards; clarifying the streamlining procedures for permissible 
experiments . 
[A-441] 
