Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D. 
- 3 - 
In the event that Stanford University would be willing 
to publish their findings prior to issuance of their patent, 
the sooner, of course, the scientific community would be apprised 
of the scope of allowable claims, and could commence taking any 
steps deemed appropriate. 
There is still another aspect of the matter that is 
raised by your letter which we should like to briefly touch upon. 
That is whether the U.S. patent system should be employed in 
some manner to help protect the public health and insure greater 
safety to the American people from any unexpected results of 
recombinant DNA research. It is our view that safeguarding 
against any such eventualities should be provided by the Federal 
Government and by means which are exclusive of patents or patent 
license provisions. Merely to place restrictions upon licenses 
that NIH might grant as a result of Government subsidies would not 
adequately protect the public inasmuch as at least some research 
will undoubtedly take place without benefit of Government 
funding. Safeguards should be provided by the Federal Government 
by means other than our patent system. 
We hope the foregoing will aid you in your deliberations 
on this important subject. Please call on us if you have any 
questions about our comments or if we can further assist you in 
any way. 
Very truly yours. 
C. Harold Herr 
CHH : kt 
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