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State University of New York 
99 Washington Avenue 
Albany, New York 12210 
Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor April 14, 19 76 
Donald S. Fredrickson, M. D. 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Don: 
Many thanks for your letter of March 17 with respect to 
your difficult task of issuing guidelines with respect to 
Recombinant DNA research. I am sorry that it took me so 
long to respond. 
I appreciated the opportunity to participate in the 
Advisory Committee meeting in Bethesda. I am much impressed 
by the fact that it was the scientific community that identi- 
fied the potential public hazard of conducting research in 
the area of genetic engineering and that they, the scientists 
engaged in this research, were instrumental in calling a world- 
wide temporary halt to the research pending the development of 
guidelines which give attention to the public hazards involved 
and methods of safeguarding the researchers, their staff, and 
the general public. I am impressed with the thoroughness with 
which concerned groups addressed this problem and the thought- 
fulness and thoroughness which you and your staff at the 
National Institutes of Health have addressed the problem. 
The research area itself is obviously beyond any competency 
which I might have to evaluate it and give you technical 
suggestions. You might find it useful, however, to have an 
objective outsider point up certain aspects of the proposed 
guidelines . 
While the guidelines are very impressive, it strikes me 
that they constitute in large part the technical implementation 
procedures and elements of consideration for the implementation 
of a broad policy statement. However, no broad policy statement 
is made but has to be inferred. It strikes me that it would be 
appropriate to develop a carefully devised, short policy state- 
ment which would likely be appropriate for an extended period of 
time and then make the guidelines a technical implementation 
statement of that policy based on the present state of knowledge 
and subject to continuing revision as the state of knowledge 
improves . 
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