Dr. William J. Gartland 
(301) 496-7714 
HEW 
CO 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION. AND WELFARE 
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON Dr. DeWitt Stetten 
June 23, 1976 (301) 496-1921 
Guidelines for the conduct of experiments involving recombinant DNA 
molecules were released today by Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson, Director of 
the National Institutes of Health. 
Dr. Fredrickson also released a document describing the factors he 
took into account in reaching his decision to issue the Guidelines. 
The NIH Guidelines will, effective today, govern research at laboratories 
of the NIH and those of its grantees and contractors. They are also expected 
to be adopted by other laboratories throughout the United States and foreign 
countries . 
The NIH has also undertaken an environmental impact assessment of these 
Guidelines for recombinant DNA research in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) . The purpose of this assessment is 
to review the environmental effects, if any, of research that may be conducted 
under the Guidelines. 
Recombinant DNA molecules result from recombination in the test-tube of 
segments of deoxyribonucleic acid, the material which determines the hereditary 
characteristics of all living cells. These techniques have a remarkable 
potential for furthering the understanding of fundamental biochemical processes 
in cells of lower and higher organisms, and promise to revolutionize molecular 
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