RICHMOND TIMES- DISPATCH 
Richmond, Va., 6/24/76 
Genetic Research Rules Issued 
WASHINGTON (UPI)-The 
National Institutes of Health 
issued Wednesday guidelines 
designed to ensure that genetic 
research does not unleash new 
diseases or drug-resistant ger- 
ms. 
The guidelines, expected to 
be adopted worldwide, set up 
strict biological safety controls 
for laboratory recombinations 
of DNA (deoxyribonucleic 
acid), which determines the 
hereditary characteristics of 
all living cells. 
The institutes' director. Dr. 
Donald Fredrickson, said. 
•‘The object of these guidelines 
is to ensure that experimental 
DNA recombination will have 
no ill effects on those engaged 
in the work, on the general 
public or on the environment.'' 
y 
of research. for instance, looks 
to development of bacteria to 
eat oil spills. 
•'The guidelines issued today 
allow the research to go 
forward in a manner respon- 
sive and appropriate to hazards 
that may be realized in the 
future.” he said. 
He said it was “extremely 
important for the public to be 
aware that this research is not 
directed to altering of genes in 
humans, although some of the 
techniques developed in this 
research may have relevance if 
this is attempted in the future. 
Fredrickson said the 
guidelines were developed with 
advice from consultants iri the 
fields of law. ethics, consumer 
affairs and the environment. 
They will govern the in- 
stitute’s research, but their 
application is expected to be 
worldwide. 
Copiesarebeingsentto25.000 
grantees and contractors, 
medical and scientific jour- 
nals. science attaches of em- 
bassies in Washington and U.S. 
science attaches in foreign 
countries 
Dr William Gartland. who 
will head an Institute Office of 
Recombinant DNA Activities, 
planned a trip to Geneva to 
brief international health and 
-scientific organizations on the 
new recommendations. 
COURIER- POST 
Camden, N.J., 6/23/76 
U. S. issues first guidelines 
for genetic experimentation 
More Restrictive 
He said the guidelines ban 
certain research and generally 
are more restrictive than those 
urged by leading scientists in 
1975. 
The guidelines will enable 
research to continue on pro- 
jects that have great potential 
value to medicine, science and 
technology. Fredrickson said 
in an unusual public document 
outlining the factors he con- 
sidered in reaching his 
decision. 
One potentially valuable line 
By JAMES ASHER 
( ourier-Posl Staff 
The National Institutes of Health. 
Rethesda. Md.. issued guidelines 
today, forged during two years of 
controversy and debate, that es- 
tablish limits for genetic experi- 
ments. 
The scientific community, armed 
with these strict hut voluntary 
guidelines, can resume research that 
could ul t iinately bypass evolution and 
create new forms of life 
Scientists, who have traditionally 
studied nature as they observed it. 
are now able to change the structure 
of molecules thereby creating new 
life forms. 
When news of the scientific tec h- 
nique was disclosed in 1974. re- 
searchers agreed to a moratorium on 
experimentation to avoid mistakes 
that could create unstoppable epi- 
demics spread by mutated bacteria 
The new guidelines suggest labora- 
tory conditions that should eliminate 
the chance of accident lal spread of 
mutated organisms. 
Basically . sc ientists can take DNA. 
the building block of life, and cut it 
up with spec ial enzymes 
By rearranging the DNA of certain 
organisms, scientists are hoping to 
create life forms unlike any others 
found in nature 
Far in the future, researchers hope 
to produce plants that contain ni- 
trogen producing bacteria that would 
eliminate the- need for fertilizer, or 
animals resistant to disease 
The controversy, naturally enough, 
has come from scientists who are 
fearful about tampering with evolu- 
tion. 
Erwin Chargaff of Columbia Uni- 
versity asks: “Have we the right to 
counteract, irreversibly, the evolu- 
tionary wisdom of millions of years in 
order to satisfy the ambition and 
curiosity of a few scientists'’” 
In a letter to Science magazine. 
Chargaff called this evolutionary 
alteration a crime and said: "It is so 
unthinkable to previous gerv Mons. 
that I could only wish that m- were 
not guilty of it ." 
William Gartland. a member of the 
NIH committee that prepared the 
guidelines, said the issue has basi- 
cally been resolved within the scien- 
tific community 
However, the guidelines are soon to 
be published in the Federal Register, 
the government’s magazine listing all 
official business 
Once published. Gartland said, the 
NIH may be hearing from non-scien- 
tists raising issues of a non-scientific 
nature, thereby causing a new de- 
bate. 
Not all the details of the guidelines 
were immediately available 
One of the prime criticisms about 
genetic research involves the host 
organism to be used when breaking 
^ apart the DNA. 
Scientists will be using a bacteria 
found in the human gut and nose. 
Escherichia coli. 
Critics contend that such E. coli 
l>acteria. because of its viability 
within the human body, can spread 
unknown diseases after contact with 
the altered DNA. 
Proponents challenge that, sayinr; 
the bacteria would not be able to li\ • 
outside the laboratory. 
To handle that problem, the NIH 
guidelines require that bacteria b» 
weakened to lessen the likelihood of 
such infection. Also. NIH suggests 
NEWSDAY t 
Long Island, N.Y. , 6/24/76 
Creation-of-Life Rules 
STAR 
Minneapolis, Minn., 6/23/76 
Guidelines ban 
some ‘perilous’ 
genetic research 
thalnooreanians be released into the 
environment. 
Gartland said Tuesday the prohi- 
bition on release would apply even to 
strains of plants like those envisioned 
with nitrogen producing capacities. 
He said the guidelines may be altered 
U> allow widespread cultivation. 
The guidelines also suggest that 
scientists search for another host 
bacteria, one that does not have 
viability in humans. 
Gartland doubted such an organism 
<t>uld be found soon. 
He also noted the guidelines do not 
have the force of regulatioas but 
instead require the voluntary compli- 
ance of researchers 
WALL STREET JOURNAL 
New York, N.Y. , 6/24/76 
Safety Guides on Genetic Experiments 
Issued by U.S. for Grantees, Contractors 
Bv a Wall 8THEET Joi INAL Stall Reporter 
WASHINGTON The government took 
the first steps to control laboratory experi- 
ments in genetic manipulation of bacteria 
and other simple forms of life 
These experiments, being conducted In 
laboratories around the world, are aimed at 
bettering scientific understanding of PNA. 
the hereditary material of all living organ-1 
isms They could lead eventually to new| 
methods of treating genetic diseases and the: 
creation of improved varieties of agrlcul-l 
tural crops But genetic experiments also! 
pose the threat of loosing on civilization le- 
thal new germs manufactured in the labors- | 
tory 
The National Institutes of Health, the fed-. 1 
eral government’s medical research arm. 
yesterday published the first set of guide- 
lines. ruling out certain highly risky experi- 
ments and establishing safety standards for 
others 
Guidelines’ Applications 
The NIH guidelines will apply directly, 
only to the agency's 25.000 grantees and con- 
tractors. which include most of the nation s 
universities But the guidelines are likely 
to be adopted in the same or only slightly 
modified from by the Pharmaceutical Man- 
ufacturers Association representing most 
drug companies, which also engage in 
genetic experiments 
U S officials also hope the NIH guide- 
lines the first adopted by any nation, will 
set the standard for world-wide limitations - 
on geneCr experiments It's likely U S pol- 
icy will be emulated by other countries, but 
there isn't any guarantee 
The NIH guidelines which take effect im- 
mediately. are based on months of-debate in 
scientific circles The move to limit genetic 
experiments was initiated by researchers in 
the field who worried that serious harm to 
tneir work and society would eventually 
arise if there weren't any safety standards 
Prohibited Experiments 
Some biologists liken their dilemma to 
the difficulties faced by physicists at the 
dawn of the atomic age They are in posses- 
sion of a revolutionary new technology that 
promises great benefits to mankind but also’ 
poses immense dangers 
The NIH guidelines, for example, pro- 
hibit experiments that increase the resist- 
ance of bacteria to drugs used In the treat- 
ment of human and animal disease They 
also prohibit experiments with genetic mate- 1 
rial form organisms that cause human dis- 
ease and the deliberate release of any or- 
ganisms containing manufactured genetic 
material 
Allowable genetic experiments are classi- 
fied according to their potential hazard 
Standards are established for the safety fa- 
cilities in which the experiments must be 
conducted, the most dangerous experiments 
requiring the most secure containment facil- 
ities 
The genetic experiments are conducted 
by use of chemlcsds called restriction en- 
zymes. which snip out tiny segments of the 
DNA. or genetic material, of one organism 
so that it can be transferred to another 
Thus, in theory, genes to prevent disease or 
to produce certain characteristics could be 
implanted in the cells of humans or other 
living organisms 
One reason for the rush to control these 
experiments is that the work isn’t expensive 
ar.d doesn't require highly sophisticated lab- 
oratory training Scientists say a good high 
school student could probably perform ge- 
netic experiments in his own basement If he 
had the required chemicals. 
[ 576 ] 
