lt *OUM v 
Attachment IV - Page 1 
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMEN fAL PROTECTION AGENCY 
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 
MAY I 8 1984 
Honorable Albert Gore, Jr. 
Chai rman 
Subcommittee on Investigations 
and Oversight 
Committee on Science and Technology 
House of Representatives 
Washington, D.C. 20515 
Dear Mr. Chairman: 
Thank you for your letter of March 12, 1984. We appreciate 
the opportunity to comment on your Subcommittee* staff report 
entitled "The Environmental Implications of Genetic Engineering." 
The report is an insightful analysis which the Agency finds 
valuable in the development of its biotechnology programs. 
Also enclosed is our response to your specific questions on 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans for regulating 
the deliberate release of genetically engineered organisms. 
The report's first recommendation is that EPA should 
establish formal communications and agreements with other 
agencies. This communication is already taking place. EPA 
personnel have served as non-voting representatives to the 
National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Recomb inant-DNA Advisory 
Committee (RAC) since the Committee's inception. EPA also 
joined the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Occupational Safety and 
Health Administration (OSHA) , and the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission (CPSC) in making biotechnology one of the major 
agenda items of the Interagency Risk Management Council ( IRMC) . 
EPA is also participating with other interested Federal 
agencies on a Cabinet Council Working Group on Biotechnology. 
This working group is now undertaking a review of the Federal 
regulatory rules and procedures related to biotechnology. 
Finally, bilateral communications between EPA and other 
Federal agencies concerning their biotechnology programs have 
and will continue to take place on a regular basis. 
The report's second and third recommendations are to 
establish an "interagency task force" to review all proposals 
for deliberate releases until EPA's regulations are fully 
operational . 
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