THE EM8C COMMITTEE BELIEVES THAT DMA OF AMPHIBIA* REPTILES AND 
FISH POSES LESS OF A CONJECTURAL HAZARD THAN THAT OF MAMMALS 
AND PRIMATES AND* THEREFORE* REQUIRES A LOWER LEVEL OF CONTAIN- 
MENT 
THE EMBO COMMITTEE HAS NOT DISCUSSED IN DETAIL THE CONTAINMENT 
CONDITIONS FOR EXPERIMENTS WITH THE DNA OF ORGANISMS* OF THE 
VARIOUS PHYLOGENETIC CLASSES* THAT ARE PATHOGENIC OR ARE THE HOSTS 
OF PATHOGENS. THE CONTAINMENT CONDITIONS FOR THESE* AND FOR 
EXPERIMENTS WITH DNA FROM PATHOLOGICAL TISSUES FROM ANY ORGANISM 
SHOULD BE DECIDED CASE BY CASE* TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION FACTORS 
SUCH AS THE PRODUCTION BY THE PATHOGEN OF A POLYPEPTIDE OR NON- 
POLYPEPTIDE TOXIN* THE HOST RANGE OF THE PATHOGEN* THE PRECISE 
NATURE OF THE PATHOLOGICAL TISSUE AND THE DISEASE* ETC. IRRESPECTIVE 
OF THE TAXONOMIC POSITION OF THE DONOR ORGANISM* ALL EXPERIMENTS 
INVOLVING THE DNA OF PATHOGENS OR PATHOLOGICAL TISSUES SHOULD BE 
REFERRED TO THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE BEFORE THEY ARE STARTED. IN 
GENERAL THE EMBO COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS THAT IN THESE CASES EITHER 
THE PHYSICAL OR THE BIOLOGICAL CONTAINMENT MEASURES BE INCREASED 
BY AT LEAST ONE STEP. 
PROHIBITED EXPERIMENTS 
THE EMBO COMMITTEE ACCEPTS IN PRINCIPLE THE PROPOSAL XADE IN 
THE NIH GUIDELINES THAT CERTAIN RECOMBINANT DNA EXPERIMENTS SHOULD 
NOT AT PRESENT BE INITIATED* HOWEVER* THE LISTS OF PARTICULAR 
[Appendix A — 92] 
