3 
recommendation of the ESF. Holland, however, is relying on the NIH 
Guidelines ; while the Soviet Union has created its own DNA Recombinant 
Guidelines Committee. 
There are several initiatives underway to achieve a commonality of 
standards. Dr. Emmett Barkley, Director of the National Cancer Institute's 
Office of Research Safety, described a March workshop held in London 
under the sponsorship of the NIH and the European Molecular Biology 
Organization (EMBO) . The technical aspects of primary and secondary 
physical containment were discussed and agreement was reached on the 
appropriate range in which physical containment levels should fall. 
All three sets of guidelines are within this range, but adjustments 
need to be made to achieve uniformity. 
Dr. William Gartland, Director of the NIH Office of Recombinant DNA 
Research, described the mandate of the Committee on Genetic Experimenta- 
tion (COGENE) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) , 
and also the many activities being sponsored by the World Health Organiza- 
tion (WHO) to foster the discussion of issues associated with this research. 
He also reported on a March meeting in France of representatives of the 
various GMAG's convened for the purpose of considering the harmonization 
of guidelines throughout Europe. The problem of loss of patent rights 
due to disclosure of information to review bodies was also discussed, and 
an investigation into this legal problem is in progress. 
Dr. Fredrickson then queried the Committee members as to the nature of 
their overseas contacts and received the following replies: 
(1) NSF - has no formal foreign contacts but interacts informally, 
usually through the Agency for International Development (AID) ; 
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