8 
Dr. Gottesman said she wished to offer a motion concerning the seven recanmenda- 
tions made in the Gore Report. This motion would he forwarded to RAC as advice. 
Dr. Gottesman suggested the working group offer no comment on the first recarmen- 
dation ot the Core Report which is as follows: 
"(1) The EPA should proceed with its stated intention to extend its authority 
to include all deliberately released organisms not specifically identified 
as part of the legal obligation of another agency. In view of EPA's 
stated conclusion that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) does 
provide it with authority to oversee deliberate releases and the fact 
the Congress intended TSCA to be 'gap filling' legislation, no additional 
legislation or clarifying amendments are needed at this time. EPA 
should, however, establish formal communications and agreements with 
other agencies to ensure that gaps and redundancies in the regulatory 
structure do not occur. A major goal should be to permit research and 
commercialization to proceed with minimum interference vhile adequately 
addressing environmental and public health concerns." 
Dr. Gottesman suggested the working group reject the second recommendation of 
the Gore Report. The working group wculd recommend that RAC continue its oversight 
function making use of expert working groups for prereview. The second recommen- 
dation reads as follows : 
"(2) Until such time as EPA's regulations are promulgated, an interagency 
task force should be established to review all proposals for deliberate 
releases. EPA should take the initiative in organizing this panel. The 
panel should be comprised of representatives from EPA, USDA, NIH, and 
any other appropriate federal agency or entity directly involved from 
either the scientific or regulatory perspective. The panel should 
establish an environmentally oriented risk/benefit assessment program 
to evaluate current proposals for deliberate releases and to provide 
a data base for decisions on future releases. The panel should also 
develop a uniform set of guidelines to govern deliberate releases. 
The panel should, moreover, serve the f met ion of educating the public 
about the potential risks and benefits associated with this aspect of 
biotechnology. Consideration should be given to making this panel a 
permanent oversight body even after EPA has promulgated regulations to 
ensure that the broadest possible expertise is brought to bear in over- 
seeing the technology." 
Dr. Gottesman suggested that the working group reject the third recommendation of 
the Gore Report which reads as follows: 
"(3) No deliberate release should be permitted by EPA, NIH, USDA, or any 
other federal agency until the potential environmental effects of the 
particular release have been considered by the interagency review panel. 
The panel shall consider the effects of any environmental release, 
regardless of size or intent. Each agency should evaluate prcposals 
for deliberate releases according to a uniform set of guidelines to be 
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