STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER 
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 
DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY 
Stanford University Schooi. of Medicine 
Area Code 415 
497-6161 
March 2 7, 1978 
Dr. Donald Fredrickson 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
This letter is in reference to recent decisions by the NIH con- 
cerning the administration of recombinant DNA research. 
I strongly feel that the bureaucracy surrounding the NIH Guide- 
lines for recombinant DNA research has now become so unwieldy 
that many important research programs have been seriously curtailed. 
The recent decision that all MUAs must be approved by a central office 
completely undermines the original concept of local panels for control. 
I am sympathetic to the problems of the Office of Recombinant DNA. 
I also understand the desire for a consistent and uniform procedure 
for all research. However, I think it is time that all parties involved - 
Office of Recombinant DNA, local recombinant DNA panels and research 
scientists - openly discuss methods by which the concerns of all could 
be best met. The bureaucracy surrounding the Guidelines must be 
designed for simplicity and effectiveness, and I think this can be done. 
I am willing to present some ideas if there is a reasonable chance that 
they will be considered. 
Sincerely yoiifs, 
Ronald W. Davis 
RWD/lh 
[Appendix A — 269] 
