STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CENTER 
3801 Miranda Avenue 
Palo Alto, California 94304 
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE 
October 18, 1984 
Area Code 415 
493-5000 
Ext. 5505 
Director 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
Building 31, Room 3B10 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Director: 
I am writing to express my concern regarding the proposals by 
Mr. Jeremy Rifkin to amend the Guidelines regarding recombinant 
DNA research. Mr. Rif kin's abhorent proposals are an attempt to 
ban all transfer experiments of genes between one species and the 
germ line of another. Mr. Rifkin's concern is with the moral and 
ethical nature of such experiments, not with their potential 
biological or ecological hazards. I respectfully point out to 
the RAC that its authority extends only to providing advise as 
to the potential biological and ecological hazards of recombinant 
DNAs. Thus, in my opinion, Mr. Rifkin's amendment does not fall 
within the scope of the RAC's authority. The fact that Mr. Rifkin 
is an ignoramus, and that his proposed amendments are the work 
of an unbalanced mind should not influence the committee's judgement 
that his amendments do not relate to the scope of the Guidelines. 
Professor of Medicine 
LHK/sk 
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