10 
some advocacy of different opinions, some opportunity to cross-examine wit- 
nesses, and finally an opinion based on a hearing record with a statement 
of facts and reasoning in support of that opinion. This committee meeting 
is an alternative method to provide an airing of the issues, yet it incor- 
porates some of those features that may assist us to reach a wise and proper 
decision. 
Now, your responses to the guidelines will assist in the task of de- 
fining scientific and public interests in the research involving recombinant 
DNA molecules. The original agenda that you received, you will note, has 
been modified to allow more time for committee members to respond to or 
address questions to invited speakers as well as the public witnesses. 
Today Dr. Berg will begin with a discussion of developments leading 
to the call for a moratorium of certain recombinant DNA research. Dr. 
Stetten will briefly review the work of the respective NIH committee, 
and Dr. Singer will describe the proposed NIH guidelines. Drs. Hogness 
and Curtiss, who are members of the NIH committee, will describe areas 
where there was some disagreement in drafting the guidelines. And when 
they have completed their brief reports, we will entertain questions that 
the committee members may have for the speakers. 
This afternoon there will be a film describing maximum containment 
facilities — actually the facilities here on the Bethesda campus. This 
brings to our attention the very important environmental impact concerns 
in recombinant research; and following a description of a recombinant DNA 
institutional review committee, we will open the discussion to the public 
as well as the committee. 
Questions will be entertained first from committee members and then 
from the public. There will then be an opportunity for statements from 
public witnesses who have filed their statements with us in advance. Each 
witness will be allowed 10 minutes. The committee members will have an 
opportunity to question each of the witnesses as time allows. 
Tomorrow Dr. Stetten will present a summary of our discussions, and 
then we will welcome response from the committee and public witnesses. 
In the last hour tomorrow, we will hear additional comments from you 
committee members on the proposed guidelines. 
Now, in the next day and a half I am especially interested that you 
as the members of this committee provide us with a sense of your compre- 
hension of the nature of the experiments and the risk-benefit assessment. 
Further, and perhaps more importantly, your response to the proposed guide- 
lines and procedural mechanisms for monitoring this research activity will 
be especially helpful. 
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