environment and to humans, there may be cause to not allow 
environment al release of such an organism. This evolved into a 
debate as to whether plants, bacteria, viruses, or animals should 
be treated differently in this regard with many opinions being 
expressed. Finally, Mr. Mitchell asked that over the luncheon 
recess Dr. Qastein meet with other members of the RAC to 
formulate an amendment which could be considered by the committee 
after the lundieon recess. Whereupon, Mr. Mitchell recessed the 
committee for lunch, to reconvene at 1:30 p.m. 
Mr. Mitchell reconvened the committee at 1:30 p.m. 
Mr. Rogers said that other agencies do not have complete 
jurisdiction, so there will not be complete coverage without NIH 
retaining jurisdiction. He suggested instead of NIH "abrogating 
its responsibility" that "lesser levels of review" be put into 
place for those types of experiments that in RAC's opinion do not 
warrant full committee review. 
Dr. Rebecca Goldburg of the Environmental Defense Fund also said 
the question of risk should be evaluated whether the organism in 
question existed in nature or not. She supported Mr. Rogers' 
proposal of same level of review for all releases. 
Dr. Clowes said that RAC was created to oversee experiments done 
with recombinant DNA which could create novel genotypes and not 
to deal with organisms extant in nature. 
Dr. Q^stein proposed amended wording for the first sentence of 
the proposed Section III-A-2-c to read: 
“For extr achramos amal elements and 
microorgani sms (including viruses), 
rearrangements and amplifications within a 
single genome." 
The rest of this paragraph would remain unchanged from the 
version at tab 1 2 86/III/Option 2, with the exception of the 
substitution of the word "species" for "organism" which had 
already been voted upon and amended. 
Dr. Sharpies asked whether this change was substantive enough to 
force resubmission to the Federal Register for public comment. 
Dr. Talbot said he did not believe so, since this was 
constricting the exemptions not broadening them. In the past, 
the NIH Director had accepted those kinds of restrictive changes 
made by the RAC. 
Dr. Tolin asked why plants and animals were being restricted 
since she felt there was a larger body of kncwledge concerning 
genetically altered plants and animals than altered 
microorganisms. Dr. Miller agreed. 
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