7 
Dr. Fredrickson then opened up for discussion the Committee's 
future agenda. He first noted that, if possible, the Committee 
should have recommendations to the President in mid or late January. 
This time frame was suggested at the Senate Health Subcommittee 
hearings. There was no disagreement on this tentative time frame 
for the Committee's deliberations. 
Dr. Fredrickson cited an important responsibility of the Committee 
will be to determine the nature and scope of activities in 
the private sector and the application of standards to that sector. 
To accomplish this, the Committee will need to meet with private 
industry and representative unions. Dr. Fredrickson noted that 
the Department of Commerce would need to play a most important role 
in this regard and Secretary Richardson may undertake to begin 
preliminary explorations. Dr. Ancker-Johnson, representing the 
Department of Commerce, noted that voluntary compliance by industry 
should be no problem and our task would be one to identify the 
players and to respect the proprietary nature of the research 
conducted by the private sector. Dr. Young, representing NASA, 
noted that the private sector is not only industry but a number of 
other institutions such as foundations; and Dr. Fredrickson agreed 
that the Committee's scope of inquiry should go beyond private 
industry. 
Dr. Fredrickson asked that those research agencies present, such 
as NSF, DOD, USDA, ERDA, and NASA, provide the Committee with 
their analyses of recombinant DNA research activity being conducted 
or planned and the degree of responsibility each will have for the 
various functions required under the NIH guidelines as outlined 
before. Dr. Fredrickson noted that the Department of Defense, 
the NSF, and ERDA had adopted the NIH guidelines. Dr. Lewis, of 
the Department of Agriculture, spoke of recent actions within 
his Department relevant to the NIH guidelines. Dr. Lewis reviewed 
the activities of certain committees created within the Department 
and their recommendations to the Secretary that the NIH guidelines 
be endorsed. He also suggested that USDA was considering the 
creation of a recombinant advisory committee analogous to the 
one at the NIH and that the Department would be willing to accept 
a number of responsibilities outlined in the NIH guidelines. 
During this discussion there was a question whether the Committee 
might review more broadly genetic research. Dr. Fredrickson noted 
that given the time constraints, it might be best for the Committee 
to act on recombinant HA research, at least for the present. 
He noted that the NIH has created a task force to look at other 
relevant genetic research areas. 
[ 174 ] 
