THE SALK INSTITUTE 
POST OFFICE BOX 1809, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92112 714: 453-4100 
Frederic de Hoffmann 
President December 2, 1976 
Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D. 
D i rector 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
Thank you for your letter of November 17 asking about the nature 
and scope of work with recombinant DNA at The Salk Institute. 
At the present time we are not pursuing any research in this area. 
I have discussed your letter with some of the members of our 
scientific staff and with the Institute's Biohazards Committee. 
Although there are no immediate plans to undertake recombinant DNA 
work, we recognize that our plans may change in the future. Any 
work in this area would be carefully planned and subject to the 
review of our Biohazards Committee, using the NIH guidelines and 
any other information that may become available. 
With regard to the items mentioned in the minutes of the Interagency 
Committee on Recombinant DNA Research included in your letter, we 
can offer a few general comments. The Institute has developed 
procedures for handling potentially hazardous materials which are 
presently used, such as tumor viruses and certain cell lines. 
These procedures include registration of materials, review of 
activities by our Biohazards Committee, and safety education and 
training of our personnel. At the present time we do not anticipate 
that we would be involved in developing safer hosts and vectors for 
the scientific community, although we would, of course, contribute 
in whatever way we could if we became involved in recombinant DNA 
work. 
We hope that the Interagency Committee will give careful considera- 
tion to the means of providing adequate facilities for recombinant 
DNA research so that the institutions involved would be able to 
comply fully with the NIH guidelines or any other guidelines which 
may be developed for such research. 
I hope that these brief comments will be helpful to the Interagency 
Committee. We will keep you informed about the development of any 
plans for recombinant DNA research at The Salk Institute in the 
f ut ure . 
Yours very sincerely, 
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