ABSTRACT
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed and implemented Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules. The guidelines were presented to Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson, then Director of the NIH, who called a meeting of his Director's Advisory Committee to discuss the proposal. In order to offer Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and the NIH an alternative proposal, Dr. Susan Gottesman, the chairperson of the Working Group on Revision of the Guidelines, developed a proposal based on the document "Evaluation of the Risks Associated with Recombinant DNA Research. In July 1976, Senators Jacob Javits and Edward Kennedy wrote to President Gerald Ford urging that "every possible measure be explored for assuring that the NIH Guidelines are adhered to in all sectors of the research community. The NIH accepted the RAC recommendation to maintain the mandatory nature of the Guidelines and issued revised Guidelines in April 1982.
