The Genetics Society of America 
Business Office 
Post Office Box 6018 
Rockville, MD 20850 
301-762-1424 
October 9, 1984 
Dr. William J. Gartland 
Executive Secretary, RAC 
National Institute of Allergy and 
Infectious Diseases 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Dr. Gartland: 
It has today come to my attention that Mr. Jeremy Rifkin, in 
letters to Dr. Bernard Talbot dated August 21 and August 23, has 
proposed amendments to the NIH Guidelines on Recombinant DNA Research 
and that these amendments are to be considered at the October 29, 
1984, meeting of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. The intent 
of Mr. Rifkin' s amendment is to place a constraint, a proscription, on 
"experimentation involving the transfer of a genetic trait from one 
mammalian species in to germ line of another unrelated mammalian spe- 
cies", a line of research that in my opinion is potentially of very 
great value in the health sciences. Adoption of his amendments would 
place American workers at great disadvantage in this dynamic line of 
research and not only delay the reaping of its benefits but lead to 
ultimate importation of the technology from abroad. I do not accept 
Mr. Rifkin 's assertion that this kind of research is "morally repre- 
hensible" and urge that his proposed amendments to the NIH Guidelines 
on Recombinant DNA Research not be adopted. 
Sincerely yours, 
rUi/O^-ayJl 
R. W. Allard, President 
Genetics Society of America 
RWA: cm 
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