Page 2 Simring 
aforementioned others need to be part of technical committees. 
The invitation of these individuals to hearings called for at 
a point where they would have little effect on decision-making 
serves only to satisfy those outside the decision arena that 
their voices had been heard and at the same time would legitim- 
ize decisions air eady on the drawing board. 2 
New paths are never easy to break. We can understand the dif- 
ficulties encountered by NIH in attempting to provide mechanisms 
for the new and still growing interface between science and soci 
ety. But thfe importance of scientific responsibility to society 
is made clear almost daily as we read newspaper reports of once 
potential hazards of technology become real. And the public is 
making known its views on the funding of science. 
It is our sincere hope that NIH and its expertise will bring to 
the ongoing issue of recombinant DNA activities the flexibility 
and integrity that are the hallmark of great science. 
With all good wishes and the hope to hear your further views, 
1. Williams Report of the Working Party on the Practice of 
Genetic Manipulation. 
2. Molecular Politics in Britain and the United States: The 
Development of Policy for Recombinant DNA Technology, Dr. 
Susan Wright, University of Southern California Law Review. 
Sincerely yours 
cc : 
Cranston, Califano, Rogers, 
Kennedy, Ottinger, Schweiker, 
CEQ , OSHA, EPA, C,DC 
L/ 
FRSrfh 
[Appendix A — 323] 
