Baker Road 
Athens, Ohio 45701 
October 6 , 198I4. 
Director 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
Building 3^ » Room 3B1 0 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Sir: 
We strongly object to the "Proposed Addition of Prohibi- 
ted Experiments to the Guidelines" as suggested by Mr. 
Jeremy Rif kin. 
Guidelines for such research are certainly necessary 
and appropriate. The prohibitive measures suggested by 
Mr. Rifkin, however, would deny to humans the possibil- 
ity for solutions to genetic disorders destructive to 
our species. 
We voice our objections not only in a general sense, but 
because such an action would shatter the hopes for a cure 
for the two young daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Michael 
Downard of Athens, Ohio. During the time of the pregnancy 
of their second child, they wre informed that the first 
suffered from Infantile Me tachromatic Leukodystrophy. 
Subsequent tests have shown that the second infant is also 
a victim. 
The end of present research, as proposed by Mr. Rifkin, 
would seem to extinguish the very real possibility for 
an end to the human tragedy caused by such debilitating 
diseases . 
Fred D. Pallini 
Doreen Ii. Pallini 
f496] 
