3. As interim relief, regulations which make the NIH guide- 
lines binding on all parties engaged in recombinant DNA research 
and technology. 
This relief is necessary to insure that the public has an 
adequate opportunity to participate in the decision of whether 
and under what conditions recombinant DNA research and technology 
should be permitted and to insure that the protection provided 
the public by the NIH guidelines is immediately extended through 
the application of the NIH guidelines to all recombinant DNA 
research and technology. 
'A. The Need for a Legislative-Type Hearing 
The NIH guidelines, which at present are the only statement 
of government policy on recombinant DNA research and technology, 
are the product of the deliberations of scientists who are now 
conducting, recombinant DNA research. The NIH guidelines had 
their origin in the Asilomar Conference held in Pacific Grove, 
California in February 1975. Many of the participants at that 
conference were the foremost molecular biologists from all over 
the .world. • The NIH Recombinant DNA Molecule Program Advisory 
Committee translated the recommendations of that conference into 
concrete proposals which became the NIH guidelines. The first 
opportunity the public had to participate in the regulation of 
recombinant research was in February of 1976 when the draft 
guidelines were released for public comment, and the Advisory 
1 / 
Committee to the Director of NIH held an open meeting. 
.1/This committee should not be confused with the NIH Recombinant 
DNA Molecule Program Advisory Committee, which drafted the guide- 
lines, but is one assembled early in 1976 from representatives of 
science, law, teaching, public interest groups, students, etc. to 
advise the director of NIH on the correctness or shortcomings of 
its efforts to regulate recombinant DNA research. 
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