about what should W within the remit of the GMAG and of the need for speed 
and flexibility in dealing with a succession of protocols, each of w hich will need 
to be reviewed bv scientific experts, we consider that it would be best if the 
GMAG is an independent advisory body dealing directly with the laboratories 
concerned. It would certainly be appropriate for the GMAG to come under 
the aegis of a Government department which could for example provide a 
secretariat and supporting services, and it would be necessary tor the GMAG 
to keep appropriate Government departments informed of the advice given 
to laboratories. 
5.16 We would in any case expect Government departments. Research 
Councils and other grant-giving bodies to make it a condition of granting funds 
for genetic manipulation research that institutions and individual investigators 
should follow the advice of the GMAG and conduct their experiments in 
accordance with the procedures recommended. We would also hope that all 
scientific papers in this field would include a statement of both the physical 
and biological containment measures involved in the experiments. 
6. RECOMMENDATIONS 
We recommend that: 
i. experiments in genetic manipulation, conducted in appropriate 
conditions of physical and biological containment, should be 
encouraged (1.3): 
ii. further work should be done on the development and characterisation 
of disabled organisms and that any which are developed should be 
made freely available to all workers in the held (1.6); 
iii. no genetic manipulation experiment should be undertaken in con- 
tainment conditions less stringent than those used for work with 
common pathogens (2.8): 
iv. the code of practice in Appendix II should be adopted as a basis for 
the conduct of these experiments (3.1); 
v. every laboratory conducting these experiments should have a safety 
committee and a Biological Safety Officer (3.4); 
vi. appropriate training should be made available and be required for 
all research workers, technicians and biological safety officers in 
genetic manipulation laboratories (4.2); 
vii. a Genetic Manipulation Advisory Group (GMAG) should be estab- 
lished to advise on appropriate precautions for the conduct of these 
experiments (5.3); 
viii. the GMAG should be separate from the Dangerous Pathogens 
Advisory Group (DPAG) although there should be liaison between 
the two groups (5.5); 
ix. a system of voluntary control should be established as quickly as 
possible (5.14); 
x. regulations should be made under the Health and Safety at Work 
Act to require laboratories to submit experimental protocols to the 
GMAG (5.12); 
(Numbers in brackets refer to paragraphs in the report) 
IV-19 
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