Interagency Committee on Recombinant DNA Research 
Summary Minutes of Meeting 
November 2 3, 1976 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 
The second meeting of the Interagency Committee on Recombinant DNA 
Research was convened at the National Institutes of Health on 
November 23. The meeting, chaired by Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson, 
Director of the NIH, was held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and was 
conducted in three sections — reports given by the performer agencies, 
reports rendered by the regulatory agencies, and other business. 
Research departments and agencies that reported included Agriculture, 
Defense, Energy Research and Development Administration, National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation. 
The Department of Agriculture reported that an ad hoc committee has been 
established to review the NIH guidelines and to determine what permanent 
mechanisms need to be established to ensure implementation of the guidelines. 
Review of the guidelines will be completed shortly and it is expected that 
the Department of Agriculture will endorse the guidelines. Upon initial 
review Agriculture has determined that there are four research, proj ects 
being supported by the Department involving recombinant DNA research. 
The Department of Defense reported no currently active or planned 
recombinant DNA research activity. The Department reaffirmed a previous 
commitment to comply voluntarily with the guidelines if such research were 
to be conducted in the future. Defense suggested that as a means for 
uniformly interpreting and enforcing the NIH standards, there may be need 
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