1 
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 
I am pleased to appear before this Subcommittee today to testify on 
behalf of the Department on the Recombinant DNA Act (H.R. 11192) as 
reported by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Mr. Chairman, 
the Department favors enactment of H.R. 11192 because this measure 
offers the most promising solution available for establishing national 
standards for the use of recombinant DNA techniques. Congressman Harley 
Staggers, Chairman of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, and 
Congressman Paul Rogers, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and the 
Environment, are to be commended for working effectively to develop an 
interim, two-year bill that provides for sensible regulation and public 
oversight. Your Subcommittee, Mr. Thornton, has also done an outstanding 
public service in the care and deliberation provided this most important 
research area in your extensive hearings over the past two years. H.R. 
11192 reflects new scientific information and administrative developments 
since the release of the NIH Guidelines in June 1976 as do the revisions 
to the Guidelines proposed to me in September 1977 by the Recombinant 
DNA Molecule Program Advisory Committee (RAC) . Let me review for you 
the scientific and administrative developments reflected in the bill and 
in the proposed revisions to the Guidelines. 
[Appendix B — 177] 
