6 
3. the Secretary of HEW should receive a more general mandate 
in dealing with this issue; 
4. public interest groups might consider this to be a secret 
process between government and industry in which others 
are denied access; and, 
5. this language might preclude laboratory workers from 
having knowledge of the materials with which they are 
dealing. 
By a vote of sixteen to two, the Committee decided to include the 
language offered by OASH/DHEW, as the suggested elements for legislation 
on disclosure of information. 
Commerce Department Order for Accelerated Processing of Patents 
Dr. Ancker-Johnson requested the Committee's views on the Commerce 
Department ^rder published in the Federal Register on Thursday, January 13, 
1977 concerning accelerated processing of patent applications for recombinant 
DNA inventions. In response to expressions of concern by members of 
Congress about the ^rder. Secretary of HEW Joseph Callfano requested 
Secretary of Commerce Juanita Kreps to withdraw the Order pending review 
by the Interagency Committee. Dr. Ancker-Johnson urged that the Committee 
act as expeditiously as possible on this matter. 
However, because the Committee had devoted most of the meeting on March 14 
to the interim committee report, it was the consensus of the Committee to 
meet again shortly to discuss thoroughly matters concerning patents. 
Dt. Fredrickson announced that another meeting of the Committee would be 
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