Sample of letter to representatives of Federal agencies. 
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION. AND WELFARE 
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH 
BETHESDA. MARYLAND 20014 
March 30, 1976 
Dear 
As a follow-up to the telephone call you received from us, I am 
writing to invite you to attend an informal meeting to exchange 
information and discuss forthcoming National Institutes of Health 
(NIH) guidelines on research involving recombinant DNA molecules. 
The meeting will be held at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. 
It is scheduled for Thursday, April 8, from 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. 
in Building 1, Room 114. I have invited representatives from 
several other governmental agencies and departments to join us in 
this discussion. 
Approximately two years ago, scientists engaged in recombinant DNA 
research voluntarily called for a moratorium on certain experiments 
to assess potential hazards of this research and to devise appropriate 
guidelines. Through their efforts, the National Institutes of Health 
and the National Science Foundation supported a conference sponsored 
by the National Academy of Sciences which was held at the Asilomar 
Conference Center in California in February 1975. Their actions also 
led the NIH to establish an advisory committee to develop guidelines 
for recombinant research funded by the NIH and to devise programs for 
assessing and controlling hazards in such research. After a year’s 
work, the committee, in December 1975, proposed guidelines for the 
NIH to govern DNA mecomb inant research. 
The proposed guidelines were reviewed at a special meeting of the 
Director's Advisory Committee held at the NIH on February 9-10, 1976. 
The meeting afforded an opportunity for the scientific community and 
the public to comment on the proposed guidelines. I have been reviewing 
these guidelines in light of the comments and suggestions made by the 
participants at the meeting as well as the written comments received 
after the meeting. After my review is completed, I will issue the 
final guidelines, perhaps in mid-April. 
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