ENTOMOLOGY 
THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY 
Athens, Georgia 30602 
U.S.A. 
404 - 542-2016 
November 9 , 1982 
Dr. William J. Gartland, Jr. 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
National Institutes ofHealth 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Dr. Gartland 
In reply to your request for information about the 
functioning under the new NIH ‘ guidelines, I have the 
following comments: 
We have not encountered any problems with the revised 
Guidelines, except that we need about a dozen additional 
copies of them. Experiments conducted on this campus have 
not required much time. We fully support having 3 
specific areas that are prohibited without RAC approval. 
Our Committee would have imposed such restrictions at the 
local level if they had not been incorporated in the final 
version of the Guidelines. 
Our Committee now meets quarterly, instead of monthly as 
we did when IBC approval of MUAs was required with 
submission of a grant application. 
Our Committee, from the outset, decided that it should be 
responsible for all matters relating to biosafety at the 
University. We also recommended the establishment of a 
Chemical and Laboratory Safety Committee which is 
concerned with safe use and disposal of toxic chemicals 
and the safe use of laboratory equipment etc. At the time 
these committees were established, there was a Radiation 
Safety Committee already functioning. The President of 
the University established an Environmental Safety Council 
as his advisory body on matters of safety policy for the 
University. The Council is made up of the chairpersons of 
the three safety committees, selected faculty, and 
represenatives of the local community. Although there 
have not been many issures that have required the 
establishment of specific policies by the Council, we are 
well satisfied with the our organization and the 
functioning of our safety programs. 
[539] 
