UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98195 
Engineering Interdepartmental 
Curricular Program FS-15 
23 May 1984 
Dr. William Gartland, Director 
ORDA 
Building 31 , Room 3B10 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, MD 20205 
Dear Bill , 
On May 22, I received from your office a copy of the Federal 
Register of April 24 requesting public comment on the recommendations 
offered in the report "The Environmental Implications of Genetic 
Engineering." The notice states that comments should be received 
by May 29 in order to be considered by the RAC at its June 1 meeting. 
It is impossible to provide meaningful comment and contribute 
to a rational decision process when ORDA affords so little time for 
participation to interested and knowledgeable persons on its mailing 
list. This problem has occurred before, and I have complained about 
it. Either the documents must be prepared and notice circulated 
earlier or the item should be placed on a later RAC agenda so as to 
afford sufficient time. It is not possible to order the report, 
receive it, study it, and send in comments all in 7 days (especially 
when one is located in a distant city and is doing other work as well) 
I therefore urge that this matter be tabled by the RAC until its 
next meeting and that notice go out in sufficient time to elicit 
meaningful response. 
Please send a copy of the report to me. 
Philip L. Bereano 
Associate Professor 
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