The former standing U.S. national committee set up in 1974 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advise the NIH director on matters regarding policy and safety issues of recombinant DNA research and development. Over time, it had evolved to become part of the American government’s regulatory process for recombinant DNA research and product approval. The RAC was terminated by the director ofthe NIH in 1 996 because the “human health and environmental safety concerns expressed at the inception (of genetic engineering/biotechnology) had not materialized.”