DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY 
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 
ATHENS, GEORGIA 30602 
(404) 542-5469 
July 11, 1978 
Dr. Donald Frederickson, Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, MD. 20014 
Dear Dr. Frederickson: 
I am writing to you in connection with the request that I made approximately 
one month ago to the Office of Recombinant DNA Activities, NIGMS that the red 
bread mold, Neurospora crassa be approved as a cloning vehicle in recombinant 
DNA experiments. 
For your information I am enclosing a copy of the letter which was sent to 
Dr. Gartland to support that request. I might also note that several of my col- 
leagues working with Neurospora have written supporting letters to Dr. Gartland. 
It is my understanding that my request was, in fact, approved by the Office of 
Recombinant DNA Activities, but that you vetoed this approval at this time and 
decided to defer action until completion of the revised guidelines. I hope you 
can understand that my colleagues and I are most unhappy with this action and the 
accompanying delay. We are most anxious to undertake experiments with Neurospora 
comparable to those which have already been done with yeast. In fact, as I point 
out in my letter to Dr. Gartland, we considered these experiments with Neurospora 
even before they were performed with yeast, but were not permitted to carry them 
out. Consequently, we are at an increasingly greater competitive disadvantage 
in exploiting these techniques to further the understanding of molecular mechanisms 
involved in genetic regulation in lower eucaryotes. 
I can appreciate that you must be under considerable pressure from both pro- 
ponents and opponents of recombinant DNA research. However, I felt I should write 
to indicate my unhappiness with your recent decision and to express the hope that 
you will do everything possible to expedite approval of experiments with Neurospora 
which are completely comparable to those with yeast; if anything, they are safer 
as I have indicated. 
In conclusion, my colleagues and I hope you will make every effort to be con- 
sistent and fair in this matter. We are most unhappy with the forced delay in 
carrying out our experiments and trust that you will indeed expedite a reasonable 
resolution of this problem. 
Norman H. Giles 
Callaway Professor of Genetics 
NHG/blq 
Enc. 1 
[Appendix A — 327] 
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INSTITUTION 
