Recombinant Advisory Committee

The novel interest here was that the field tests proposed would have involved the first deliberate release of genetically engineered bacteria. In the United States, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) already had established a Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC) to consider the hazards of accidental release it was natural that RAC should assume responsibility for regulating the new class of experiments. The RAC guidelines show that the accidental release of engineered syringae is not considered a serious problem, since the construction of such strains is permitted under low levels of physical containment. The key difference between accidental and deliberate release is in the number of organisms likely to be introduced into the environment thus the main question was whether... 

Next consider the courts. Early this year, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower court decision that kept NIH from approving a field test of recombined bacteria to be sprayed on plants to inhibit frost formation. The bacteria to be produced were not novel and were already isolated in the environment in small quantities. From an environmental protection standpoint, most scientists regarded the scaled-down experiment approved by NIH s Recombinant Advisory Committee as innocuous and looked forward to evaluating obtained field data. 

There has been for many years a very healthy, open debate on ethics and safety questions related to experiments involving recombinant DNA. Since its creation in 1974, the National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (NIH-RAC) has been the primary forum for this debate. Guidelines for recombinant DNA research developed by the NIH-RAC became binding on all Federally supported research and in practice have guided all research in the United States. In the USDA, an Agricultural Recombinant DNA Research Committee (ARRC) has been in place for many years in close association with the NIH-RAC and has assisted the NIH-RAC in its handling of agriculturally related proposals. 

Anonymous. Assessment of adenoviral vector safety and toxicity report of the National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Hum Gene Ther 2002 13 3-13. 

COMPLIMENTARY ROLES OF THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) AND RECOMBINANT DNA ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RAC) IN GENE THERAPY... 

National Institutes of Health. Amended Charter Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Updated April 13, 2005. http //www4.od.nih.gov/oba/rac/ RACCharter2005.pdf... 

Johnson, R.S. (1992). Recombinant DNA advisory committee passes six gene therapy proposals. Genetic Engineering News 12, March, 2. 

In response to a request by scientists, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules these Guidelines, first issued in 1976, and revised many times since then, are safety standards for recombinant DNA work, including agricultural experiments and field tests. 

The letter also proposed that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) establish an advisory committee to write "guidelines to be followed by investigators working with potentially hazardous recombinant DNA molecules."... 

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