DEPT. OF MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR GENETICS 
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL 
25 Shattuck Street 
Boston, Massachusetts 02115 
PETITION ON RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH 
To: Dr. Donald S. Frederickson, Director, NIH 
We the undersigned are biologists who are deeply troubled by 
the potential dangers of recombinant DNA research. We do not advocate 
a complete moratorium, nor do we question the potential merits of 
this research. We do believe, however, that the consequences of 
rearranging the products of hundreds of millions of years of evolution 
are unknown, and that the proposed biohazard containment procedures 
and other guidelines are arbitrary. 
It is our view that (1) the pending NIH guidelines have been 
based largely, although not exclusively, on the input of the practi- 
tioners themselves, (2) the issue of advised public consent has not 
been raised, and (3) the alleged benefits to medicine and agriculture 
are not so imminent that this form of research cannot be postponed 
until a more comprehensive and representative dialogue has taken place. 
The impending release of the NIH guidelines (scheduled for June 21) 
marks the time at which the United States government officially sanctions 
a form of experimentation that may be of unprecedented danger in the 
history of science. We believe that widespread and well-founded concern 
is just now surfacing and will begin to crystallize over the summer, 
both within the scientific establishment and the public at large. As 
the executive officer who must bear full responsibility, we urge you 
at this extraordinary moment in history to withhold release of the 
NIH guidelines until at least October 1, 1976. 
Respectfully, 
i j| 
K < * ' v t \ 
Received 6/14/76 
*7 
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