Sciences, should develop such a classification scheme especially 
for plants. However, the working group did establish a structure 
for this in order to give investigators some general guidance in 
the absence of such a classification scheme to be able to estab- 
lish containment levels on a local level via the IBCs or in 
collaboration or consultation with others in the field. 
Dr. McGarrity said he felt it would be easier for the committee 
to review the proposal if it were presented in two sections: one 
relating to the plant sections of the proposal; and one relating 
to the animal sections. He explained that he would present the 
animal sections of the proposal, and Dr. Fedoroff would then 
present the plant sections. 
Dr. McGarrity said the containment guidelines for large animals 
had precedent in and were similar to laboratory practices of the 
current biosafety levels used for small animals. He said much of 
the language contained in the proposal was for housekeeping 
purposes. However, one change that the committee should be aware 
of was on page 13 of tab 1290, paragraph 35. It is in reference 
to Section III-B-4-(a) of the NIH Guidelines which currently 
reads : 
"Recombinant DNA, or RNA molecules derived 
therefrom, from any source except for 
greater than two-thirds of a eukaryotic 
viral genome may be transferred to any non- 
human vertebrate. ..." 
Dr. McGarrity said that everyone recognizes that you could have 
more than two-thirds of a viral genome without any significant 
risk. Conversely, you could have far less than two-thirds and 
create a substantial potential risk. Because of this, the 
working group simply removed the "two-thirds" terminology so that 
each experiment could be judged on its own merits. 
He explained he did not want to go through Appendix Q in a line- 
by-line fashion and referred the committee to tab 1307 which 
summarizes the standard practices, special practices, and 
facilities required for the different biosafety levels as they 
apply to large animals. He noted that these biosafety levels 
have had a suffix added to them to connote the use of large 
animals; and thus the biosafety levels would be referred to as 
BL1-N through BL4-N. If an experiment is covered in the 
laboratory by BL2 and you wished to perform the same experiment 
in a large animal, you would generally use BL2-N unless the local 
IBCs had other circumstances they wished to consider. 
Dr. McGarrity noted one omission in tab 1307 he wished to bring 
to the committee's attention. Across the board, the first two 
lines of every heading should read, "Limited Access" and "Neonate 
Recombinant DNA Research, Volume 13 
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