4 
• all such questions are referred initially to the Office of Recombinant 
DNA Activities (ORDA) , NIH, under the directorship of Dr. William 
Gartland; 
• questions that cannot be resolved by ORDA are referred to the 
Recombinant DNA Executive Committee under the chairmanship of 
Dr. DeWitt Stetten, Deputy Director for Science, NIH; 
• questions that cannot be resolved at this level are referred to the 
full Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC), also chaired by Dr. 
Stetten; and 
• any issues decided by either the Executive Committee or the RAC are 
submitted to the Director, NIH, for review and approval. 
The RAC also certifies host-vector systems and proposes revisions to the 
Guidelines, with the approval of the Director, NIH. 
A set of proposed revisions to the Guidelines was published in the 
Federal Register on September 27. Comments are now being received, and 
public hearings on these revisions are scheduled for December 15-16. 
Witnesses will be invited to give oral presentations, while others will 
also be heard as time permits. Those not able to testify may submit 
written comments for inclusion in the record. 
Members of the Interagency Committee will be invited to attend the 
public hearing and all relevant briefing documents for the hearing 
will be provided to the committee members. 
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