ALBERT

Keywords: Advisory Committees ; DNA, Recombinant ; Federal Government ; *Genetic Engineering ; *Government Regulation ; Jurisprudence ; *National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; United States ; recommended to NIH director James B. Wyngaarden on 1 June 1984 that two ; companies, Cetus Corporation and Advanced Genetic Sciences, Inc., be allowed to ; proceed with experiments involving release into the environment of organisms ; altered by gene splicing. The recommendation followed by two weeks a ruling by ; federal judge John J. Sirica which halted a very similar experiment by ; federally-funded University of California researcher Steven Lindow. The ruling ; did not apply to experiments conducted by private companies. Wyngaarden thus ; faces the political dilemma that, if he accepts the advisory committee's ; recommendation, a dual standard will be established allowing industry to conduct ; experiments that university scientists are currently barred from doing.