Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
February 12, 1976 
Page 3 
the proposed guideline will surely have to be accompanied by a very strong 
statement of concern about hazard and responsibility to safeguard the public 
health. 
One other aspect of the discussion at the meeting disturbed me - and I must 
admit that my suggestion - for very selective, ad hoc guidelines and permissions 
plays into it. I could sense an inclination among the more legally minded 
toward a path which would ultimately lead to a required approval prior to an 
experiment. This troubles me greatly for it would be a dire impediment to 
science. Yet perhaps this will be a necessary accompaniment to the synthetic 
mode of biological research, in the absence of feasible containment. We have 
only one habitable planet. 
With best wishes, 
. /3o-£- 
Robert L. Sinsheimer 
Chairman 
cc: Dr. DeWitt Stetten, Jr. 
[ 445 ] 
