- 2 - 
Of the 155 participants , S3 were from U.S. research, governmental 
'and industrial institutions, 51 were from comparable organizations 
outside the U.S. and 21 represented the lay and scientific news media. 
(Appendix A provides the names and affiliations of participants. ) 
Though there would have been some advantages to publishing 
the Proceedings of the Conference, the Organizing Committee chose 
not to pursue this course. Instead, the pr esentations and discussions 
were recorded on audio tape; these recordings, therefore, provide 
a verbatim record of the transactions. Inasmuch as the Conference 
participants were assured that the recordings would be used for arch- 
ival' purposes only, we propose that the seven reels of audio tape and 
their diaries (Appendix B) should be retained by the Academy for 
future reference and that their copying or distribution be proscribed. 
The Conference program (Appendix C) focused on five subject 
areas: Ecology of plasmids and enteric bacteria; molecular biology 
of prokaryote plasmids and their use for molecular cloning; synthetic 
recombinants involving animal virus DNAs; synthetic recombinants 
involving eukaryote DNAs; and ethical and legal concerns arising 
from work on synthetic recombinant DNAs. The responsibility for 
organizing the formal presentations and the panel- led discussions in 
each subject area was given to a group of four to six individuals 
organized by a program chairman. (Subsequently the working groups 
assigned the first two subject areas merged and functioned as a single 
group for purposes of program preparation and presentation. ) Each 
group met once or twice prior to the Conference to select speakers 
and discussors, to organize their formal scientific presentations and 
to draft working papers for distribution and use at the Conference 
(Appendices D, E,F). Our intent was to permit the experts in each 
area to select and organize the presentations most relevant to the 
scientific and biohazard issue. Moreover, these groups were encour- 
aged to prepare written statements containing propositions and recom- 
mendations for assessing and dealing with the real and possible 
biohazards. These planning groups also met with other participants 
during the Conference to explore the implications and consequences of 
[ 46 ] 
