* B Oyy 
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY 
1230 YORK AVENUE 
November 1, 1978 
NEW YORK, NY 10021 
JOSHUA LEDERBERG 
PRESIDENT 
Mr. Peter Libassi 
Department of Health, Education 
and Welfare 
200 Independence Avenue, S.W. 
Washington, D. C. 20203 
Dear Mr. Libassi: 
I understand that Marcia Cleveland and Louis 
Slesin of the Natural Resources Defense Council made 
certain comments, undercover of a letterhead dated 
September 19th, critical of the proposed mitigation 
of the NIH Guidelines for Recombinant DNA Research 
(43 FR 33042, July 28, 1978). 
These comments were submitted on the stationery 
of the Natural Resources Defense Council where my 
name also appears as a member of the Board of Trustees. 
A number of my colleagues have expressed surprise - 
and quite correctly and understandably so — at ray appar- 
ent association with these criticisms. My own position 
opposing unduly stringent regulation in this area was 
expressed quite clearly several years ago, and I have 
had no reason whatever to alter my earlier opinions on 
the matter. The fact is that as a member of the Board, 
I strongly applaud the general purposes of the NRDC but 
I have not approved nor taken any part in this staff 
paper: a relationship which is by no means unusual al- 
though often misunderstood. 
To avoid any possible misunderstanding I believe 
it important that I put on the record my personal dis- 
avowal to this particular comment. 
Yours sincerely. 
cc: Mr. John Adams 
Miss Marcia Cleveland 
bcc: Dr. Donald Fredrickson 
Dr. Allan Campbell 
Dr. Norton ZInder 
HA-450] 
