Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee - 10/16/90 
Revision of the NIH Guidelines , Dr. McGarrity said that this 
would be on the agenda for the February meeting of the RAC. 
Dr. McGarrity put Dr. Robert Murray's motion to establish a 
working group to study the future role of the RAC to a vote. The 
motion passed by a vote of 14 in favor, 6 opposed, and no 
abstentions. 
Dr. McGarrity asked if anyone had any other business. Dr. 
Schaechter said he was concerned with the relationship of the 
subcommittees to the parent committee. He pointed out that in 
the past a great deal of discussion had taken place in the Human 
Gene Therapy Subcommittee with regard to the protocols for human 
gene therapy and when the proposals came before the RAC 
discussion seemed to be limited and brief. He said he was 
worried that if the subcommittees were empowered to do most of 
the work that they would take on a life of their own and 
eventually bypass the role of the parent committee. 
Dr. Wivel noted that in the instance being discussed that these 
two meetings took place in a back-to-back fashion. Many of the 
members of the parent committee were in attendance for the 
meeting of the subcommittee. He assured Dr. Schaechter that this 
would not be the case in the future and that this was done to 
accommodate the investigators in an ongoing protocol and is not 
seen as a practice that will continue in the future. 
Dr. Wivel noted that three protocols are on the agenda for the 
next meeting of the Human Gene Therapy Subcommittee and that the 
subcommittee has a working group which is wrestling with 
determining deadlines for timely submission of protocols so that 
they can be considered in a more orderly fashion. 
Dr. Barbara Murray asked for assurance that the issue of the 
proposed new definition of "recombinant DNA" would be on the 
table for the next meeting of the RAC. Dr. McGarrity noted that 
anyone, including the members of the subcommittee, could request 
that something be placed on the agenda for the RAC. Dr. Wivel 
assured Dr. Barbara Murray that this agenda item will be noted in 
The Federal Register as an agenda item for the February 4, 1991 
meeting of the RAC. 
. FUTURE MEETING DATES OF THE RECOMBINANT DNA ADVISORY COMMITTEE; 
Dr. McGarrity called the committee's attention to the future 
dates of the RAC which could be found in tab 1405. He noted that 
the next meeting would be held on February 4, 1991. He also 
reminded the committee that the Human Gene Therapy Subcommittee 
would be meeting next on November 30, 1990. 
Recombinant DNA Research, Volume 14 
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