Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee

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. 

A specialcommittee ofthe American Society forMicrobiology will conduct an annual review ofthis appendixand its recommendation forchanges wUlbe presented to the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee as proposed amendments to the NIH Guidelines. 

At the conclusion of this conference, the initial meeting of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) was convened and its primary task was to create the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules. This work required more than a year, and the document was published on Jime 23,1976, in the Federal Register (59). 

---