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of Che NIH Guidelines to govern research in these sectors and, if 
necessary, to recommend appropriate legislative or executive action. 
The Committee consists of all Federal Departments and agencies that 
support and conduct such research and all regulatory agencies that 
may have potential authority over it. (The members of the Committee 
are listed in Appendix III.) 
After several months of work, the Interagency Committee agreed that 
legislation was required to ensure uniform standards to govern all 
recombinant DNA activities nationally. After detailed deliberations, 
the Committee agreed on a set of elements for proposed legislation. The 
agreed-upon elements and various alternatives reviewed by the Committee 
were presented in an Interim Report transmitted on March 15, 1977, to 
HEW Secretary Califano who had legislation developed along the lines 
recommended by the Committee. The Administration bill, drafted by the 
Department, was introduced into Congress, where it and several other 
bills dealing with recombinant DNA activities are pending. 
B. Committee Review of Patent Policies 
1 . Commerce Department Order 
The Department of Commerce published in the Federal Register 
on January 13, 1977, an order for the accelerated processing of 
patent applications for recombinant DNA inventions. In response to 
expressions of concern by members of Congress, HEW Secretary Califano 
requested Secretary of Commerce Juanita Kreps to withdraw the order 
pending review by the Interagency Committee. In a notice filed in the 
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