December 21, 1977 
Dr, Donald S> Fredrickson, Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Be the s da, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr* Fredrickson! 
* 
As an "unemployed" 3io-?fedical Engineer 
certified and too ranked for such position vacancies as thoso of Safety 
Manager at the National Institutes of Health, Grants Associate, and 
Health Scientist Administrator c „ , 
having been in attendance tliroughout your recent two-day Director’s 
Advisory Committee uublic meeting on tho recombinant DNA SAiBTY issue 
There, thanks tc you, I was allowed a few minutes as unsolicited witness 
to deliver end tc e go and on my voluntary written statement of comments 
and recommendations for comprehensive management of bio-lab safety « , « 
I want to out, now, down in writing some additional impressions and 
recommendations for your personal consideration, as follows! 
1 0 In general, there has always been and there still seems to be a ’vide 
disarray of unity in purpose and in action for tho regulation and for 
the enforcement of BIO- LAB ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY ... to say nothing about 
additional) contemplated biohazards from recombinant DNA's. 
2* In particular, turning new to that latter and additional aspect of 
this lingering problem, it appeared to me, at first, quite unreasonable 
that some public discontent with assurances for safety has risen to a 
stage where a Court injunction I 3 being thought to halt the NIK from 
conductind research with what might be quite safe materials, 
3* - can see now, however, that what evolved to this stage msy be due 
to the "inadvertence" that in suite of the fact that the HIH DIr-ec to 
has nc statutory duties to regulate the ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY of any _ 
extramural research, operation, and in suite of the fact that the NIH 
Director does now, aouarently , even intend to be such safety regulator , 
the title of the present GUIDELINES is misleading, and their internal 
aoDlicaticn to intramural NIH research Is mentioned nowhere. 
1|, Therefore, to unburden the NIH from its misinterpreted and undesired 
regulatory involvement, I suggest that tho title of the Guidelines be 
changed., as soon as possible, to i 
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY GUIDELINES 
INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, WHENEVER 
FOR INTRAMURAL RESEARCH AT THE NATIONAL 
RECOMBINANT DNA’s ARE MADE OR EMPLOYED, 
[Appendix A — 139] 
