INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH 
Summary Minutes of Meeting 
March 10 & 14, 1977 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 
The fourth and fifth meetings of the Interagency Committee took place 
on JIarch 10 and 14 at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Donald S. 
Fredrickson, Director of the NIH, chaired both meetings. 
In opening the meeting on March 10, Dr. Fredrickson noted that five 
bills had been introduced into the Congress since the last meeting and 
that the House Public Health Subcommittee would be holding hearings on 
recombinant DNA research on March 15-17. Also, changes to the minutes 
of the February 25 meeting of the Committee were accepted. 
The main agenda item for both meetings was to prepare an Interim Report 
for transmittal to HEW Secretary Califano on suggested elements for 
legislation. The Committee reviewed at length a number of issues for 
inclusion in the report and they are described below. 
The Locus of Regulation 
The Committee agreed unanimously that the regulatory authority for 
recombinant DNA research should reside in DHEW. The Center for Disease 
Control is one agency that might assume this regulatory function in the 
Department in light of its responsibility for regulating clinical laboratories, 
but it was noted that the FDA should have responsibilities when the use 
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