FOX CHASE 
CANCER CENTER 
INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH ■ AMERICAN ONCOLOGIC HOSPITAL ■ PHILADELPHIA. PENNSYLVANIA 19111 
Dr. William J. Gartland, Jr., Director 
Office of Recombinant DNA Activities 
National Institutes of Health 
Building 31, Room 4A52 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Dr. Gartland: 
The Institute for Cancer Research is an independent, non-profit research 
laboratory which, together with the American Oncologic Hospital, forms the Fox 
Chase Cancer Center. Laboratory research here is carried on by 41 independent 
investigators or heads of laboratories. Of this number, 19 make use of 
recombinant DNA technology in their work. However, the programs of only 5 
investigators contain experiments requiring registration under the August 1982 
Guidelines, the rest of the work being exempt. Thus, the burden of work for 
this committee has declined substantially in the last two years. 
To respond to your queries: 
° We have had no significant problems with the revised Guidelines. 
0 Review and registration of projects have not required large or 
inappropriate amounts of time. 
, ° We have not found ourselves in disagreement with the RAC with regard 
to containment in any instance. 
° We have not found ourselves in disagreement with the stringency or 
relaxation of the Guidelines. 
° Formal meetings of our IBC have become infrequent. Registration of 
projects is informally discussed by the principal investigator and committee 
chairman, and the kind of registration and the containment conditions required 
are agreed upon. A form requesting registration is filled out and reviewed by 
two additional committee members; if there are no problems, an interim accep- 
tance is issued by the chairman pending a formal meeting of the committee. Any 
member of the committee is empowered to convene a special meeting to discuss or 
rescind such an interim acceptance. In the past year, no new project registra- 
tions have been required and the committee has not met formally. We believe 
this approach is satisfactory in the context of our institution, since commit- 
tee members and investigators are located in a single building. Communications 
between investigators and the committee chairman, for example, are readily 
accomplished on an informal basis. 
February 8, 1983 
Reference: Memorandum Soliciting IBC Comments 
[609] 
