COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES 
NEW YORK STATE 
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES 
A Statutory College of the State University 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
Division of Biological Sciences 
Ithaca, N. Y. 14853 
Section of Botany, Genetics & Development 
Plant Science Building 
February 13, 1978 
Dr. Donald Fredrickson 
Director, N.I.H. 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I am writing concerning an important problem which has resulted from current N.I.H. 
procedures with respect to recombinant DNA. The only hosts permitted at this time 
for the cloning of hybrid DNA molecules are Escherichia coli K12 and animal cells. 
A recent advance in my own laboratory has made it possible to transform baker's 
yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with hybrid plasmids and therefore to insert 
virtually any foreign DNA molecule into the genome of this organism. Baker's 
yeast is not pathogenic in any mammal, does not exchange DNA with any pathogens, 
and has no DNA viruses. The sophisticated biochemistry and genetics of yeast 
together with the technology offered by our new finding makes baker's yeast ideal 
as a safe, efficient cloning host. Scientists are not permitted to develop this 
system because of the strict interpretation of the Guidelines by the Office of 
Recombinant DNA. I would like to point out that this interpretation is hindering 
science in our country, placing many scientists at a disadvantage, causing 
confusion to the informed citizen, and reducing faith in the wisdom and ability of 
the N.I.H. to administer the guidelines. The work has been sanctioned by the 
National Science Foundation and the American Cancer Society so that scientists 
with support from these agencies can proceed into this fruitful area while their 
colleagues with N.I.H. support cannot. Clearly, this contradiction in interpretations 
by national funding agencies gives those of us with support from non-N.I.H. sources 
as well as foreign scientists an unfair advantage. Local recombinant DNA 
committees in San Diego, Ithaca, Cambridge, and Stanford have given overwhelming 
endorsement of experiments using yeast as a host. They recognize, as our own 
local committee did, that "any rational observer would agree that baker's yeast is 
safer than E. coli" . All newspaper accounts emphasize that "there does not appear 
to be any way in which experimentally altered yeast could become a health hazard" 
(Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 11, 1978). Therefore, the current practices of 
the N.I.H. not only are at variance with those of other national funding agencies, 
but also with the judgment of local academic committees and informed public 
opinion. 
[Appendix A — 236] 
