SCHOOL OF NATURAL RESOURCES 
Samuel Trask Dana Bldg. 
430 East University St. 
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
April 16, 1976 
Dr. Donald Fredrickson, Director 
National Institutes of Health 
U.S. Dept, of Health, Education § Welfare 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I am writing to inquire as to whether you have prepared, or intend 
to prepare an "environmental impact statement" concerning your proposed 
issuance of guidelines for recombinant DNA research, and to request a copy 
of any such statement (or environmental assessment, or "marginal impact 
statement") when it is prepared. 
It is my understanding that you have had an Advisory Committee 
working for some time developing guidelines for research which utilizes 
techniques for recombining DNA molecules into new forms of life, and that 
you will in the near future be preparing and issuing proposed regulations 
on this subject. 
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 
has established a framework of substantive policy goals that all agencies 
of the federal government are to pursue, supplementary to their other 
authorities and responsibilities. To insure that these goals are achieved, 
it requires, among other things, that to the fullest extent possible 
"the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States shall be 
interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies set forth in 
this Act." More specifically, however, it also requires that before 
undertaking any "major federal action significantly affecting the quality 
of the human environment," the responsible federal official shall prepare 
and circulate to other agencies and to the public a "detailed statement," 
which describes the environmental impacts of the proposed action, alterna- 
tives to it, and other matters. 
Applicable guidelines of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality 
specifically list as "actions" within the meaning of the law "the making, 
modification, or establishment of regulations, rules, procedures, and 
policy;" and they express particular concern that such statements be 
prepared for actions "from which it is reasonable to anticipate a 
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