May 28, 1976 
Or, Donald Fredrickson 
Director, National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda , Maryland 20014 
i 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
I have lately taken a serious academic interest iri the current 
controversy over the rules governing future experiments on 
genetic recombination via bacterial plasmids or viruses. Far 
from being trival exercises, this problem assumes immense 
importance when serious scientists such as Dr. Paul Berg announce 
that they would be extremely interested in studying the behavior 
of nucleic acids taken from oncogenic viruses when such nucleic 
acids are joined to the genome of common organisms such as E. coli 
II there are benelits to be gained in such research are the 
risks worth it? 
My opinion is that all such research should be banned. The 
only exception or condition under which this research could 
continue would be if proven methods of biological containment 
could be developed which would not depend on common organisms 
such as E. coli which normally comprise the human flora. 
Surely if E. coli can accept plasmids incorporating heterologous 
DNA, there must be other organisms which can do the same thing, 
grow just as well under laboratory conditions but not inhabit 
or be potentially pathogenic in humans. The actual problem 
may be that not enough research has been done to advance 
the practicality of biological containment. The description 
of these methods in the recent issue of ASM News was sketchy 
and speculative at best. 
I hope my oomments are of some interest. 
209 E. 25th St . , 
New York, New York 10010 
[ 547 ] 
