August 24, 1975

dal 1 ace P. ;?owe, 4.9.
Chief, leboratory of Viral 2lseases
National Institute of Aller9y and

3uildlng 7, 23. 304

Infectious Diseases

Dear 8al ly:

   I snare your concern 3Sout obtaining straiaht forward and honest
adhsrence to the guidelines on racorrtbinant DNP..   It 15 my hope that within
the Llnitzd States, tho NIii guide1 lnes wl I I  ba used, not only by those
receiving research support from IJIri, but by all who are involved in tal5
research. Furthor, the xtivities of international orjanizations such
as Ed3ii and ICW as vrel 1 as tho actlvitler 1 n several countries ot!ier than
tne llnited St3tes sucioest that rln~ilar, tnourln not identical cluidclines
will be in force in inany Flacos.

In talking with our colloaques here and abrcerd I have gained the

inpression that nost sf then conslder tho 'JtJldelincs e szrims nattor.
It is my belief that honest ConnDllance will be widosaread. Navwthalass,
there ar@ rums indicating that some scientists take diffcrlnq views.
3ecause of their lack of aqresraent with the assassments of potential
hazards that we imolicit In tho Guidelines, they nay not observe the
recmnmmdetions.
flagrant or covert, And I aqree that complex problems may arise, both for
junior and senior cs>lIcarlues of Individuals disreprding the established
Srinciples,

-

fnc? dlsreoard 3f tho guldollnes may, E$ you mention, be

Hoa to nlinimizc these problems is a difficult amstion. The rocon-

mendation, in tne iilH guidelinss, that publications Include ;;1 description
of containnent measures, can be B very stronq pressure for compliance,
ssoeelally If the Journals arc wlllinq to dsaond SIJC~ statonents, It 1s
r?y j.nprsssion that 9r. Fredorickson is trying to obtain coooeration frcm
the Journals in this matter. ifowever it is difficult to predict the
reactlons of tna various editors. It is also my belief that as local
institutional blofiazards cor:mIttees are establlshcd, thoy too will put
the pressure of peers on colleapues, within a niven institution. Further
more, the current tandency of public dlr,cussion of tnis n&iw to loan
toward even more strlnaent rules than stated in the yuidelines will,  I
think, bo a powerful force for conplianco.

~UJW

Y

CO i@cp* C,+6

1-p bq-

'I * 7

  At this time I bgilcve that MIQ should glve theso three factors, as
wall as the largely favorable attitudes of the scientific communlty a
chance to operate.
your lstter of 11 August. lnst~tutlonelitod conslderation of rumors,
s3eiss to ne to invite very sorlous problems,
important Is the loss of good wlll and the habits of open discussion that
are asssntlal to the progress of science,

I am uncomfortable with ths mochanfsm you propose in

Amnct others perhaps most

Thank you for sharlng your thoughts on this.

If you want to dlscuss

it further, please qlve MB B call.

Sincerely,

Maxi ne Si ngor