Mr. Mitchell replied that it was clear the RAC was taking action 
and had accepted responsibility for the issue, and the next 
meeting is scheduled for February 1988. Further, he said he felt 
it better to take the time to develop a proper position rather 
than do something which may be regretted. 
Dr. Musgrave agreed with Mr. Mitchell and said he didn't think it 
true that the committee had expressed any feeling that there was 
currently a problem in the wording of the NIH Guidelines. The 
only expression of such a problem was made by Mr. Rif kin. He 
clarified that the experiment which took place in Argentina was 
not a deliberate release of any organism; it was the testing of 
an attenuated vaccine, a type of experiment which has been going 
on for many years. The fact that recombinant technology was used 
to attenuate the vaccine did not make it any more or less 
dangerous than any other vaccine ever tested. The mere use of 
recombinant DNA in a process such as this should not make the 
process appear dangerous. 
VI. PROPOSAL TO AMEND NIH GUIDELINES TO REFER SPECIFICALLY TO 
RESEARCH WITH PLANTS AND ANIMALS (tabs 1290/III, 1291, 1292, 
1300, 1302, 1304, 1305, 1306, and 1307). 
Mr. Mitchell called on Dr. McGarrity, Chair of the Working Group 
on Revision of the Guidelines to present the proposal. 
Dr. McGarrity said he believed this to be the largest and 
probably one of the most significant revisions of the NIH 
Guidelines since 1978. He said the trend had been in general to 
simplify the NIH Guidelines, to ease containment restrictions, 
and to place more responsibility at the local level. The 
proposal being submitted is not an easement, relaxation, or 
simplification of the NIH Guidelines, but rather an attempt to 
broaden the scope of the NIH Guidelines. Dr. McGarrity said the 
present NIH Guidelines deal well with viruses, bacteria, and 
small animals in the laboratory setting. However, they did not 
deal as well with large animals and experiments conducted in 
greenhouses . 
As background. Dr. McGarrity said the concept for the proposal 
had come from the USDA which had expressed a desire to use the 
NIH Guidelines as a vehicle for oversight of agricultural 
research involving recombinant DNA. He explained that USDA had 
held a workshop and developed a draft proposal which was 
submitted to the NIH and subsequently to the Working Group on 
Revision of the Guidelines which had met on two separate 
occasions. Dr. McGarrity thanked Dr. Fedoroff who headed the 
subgroup on plant applications. Dr. Gartland, and the ORDA staff 
for supplying the support necessary to complete the task and 
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