2 
The Veterans Administration representative stated that all the research 
supported by that agency is intramural; therefore, no patent agreements 
have been established. 
The Defense Department representative reported that Defense negotiates patent 
agreements with each grantee/contractor on a case-by-case basis. 
USDA, ERDA, NSF, and DoD have forwarded the NIH analysis to their respec- 
tive patent experts for review and will send the comments to Dr. Fredrickson. 
Dr. Fredrickson reported that he sent a memorandum on April 1* to 
HEW Secretary Callfano describing the Interagency Committee discussions 
concerning the Commerce Department order on the accelerated processing of 
patent applications. 
International Activities 
The Committee in its interim report to the Secretary on proposed legislation 
noted that its future agenda Included a review of international activities. 
Dr. Fredrickson opened the discussion with an NIH update of international 
activities. The NIH, Canada, and the United Kingdom have all published 
guidelines setting forth standards for the conduct of recombinant DNA research. 
The UK has also established a Genetic Manipulation Advisory Group (GMAG) to 
Implement the guidelines, and the Health and Safety Commission (comparable 
to OSHA in the U.S.) has assumed the enforcement responsibilities. The 
European Science Foundation (ESF) representing 45 national research councils 
from 18 western European countries has urged its member nations to adopt 
this model, and GMAG's have been established in several of these nations. In 
addition, the European Medical Research Council has voted to accept the 
( 367 ] 
