Attachment III - Page 1 
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 
WASHINGTON. D C. 20460 
OFFICE OF 
PESTICIDES AND TOXIC SUBSTANCES 
MEMORANDUM 
SUBJECT: Working Group on Release into the Environment 
Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) 
FROM: Carl Mazza, Science Advisor 
Chemical Control Division (TS-794) 
TO: Elizabeth Milewski, Ph.D. 
Department of Health and Human Services 
Thank you for notifying us of the next meeting of the RAC's 
Workgroup on release to the environment. We understand that the 
primary purpose of that meeting is to develop guidelines for 
investigators submitting proposals involving release of 
microorganisms into the environment. This discussion is of 
particular interest to the Environmental Protection Agency 
because of our own work in developing such guidance both in the 
Office of Pesticides Programs (OPP) and the Office of Toxic 
Substances ( OTS ) . In this regard, there are several documents 
that could be of use in your deliberations. 
1. The "Points to Consider" staff document, prepared by OTS 
which was distributed at the last meeting of the workgroup. 
2. Subpart M, Assessment Guidelines for Microbial Pesticides 
(Attached), while not specifically developed for genetically 
engineered organisms, should provide useful information. It 
has been made available to the workgroup in the past. 
3. A list of information elements (attached) developed by OPP 
that we believe are relevent to the assessment of small scale 
field tests of genetically engineered microorganisms. 
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