592 HISTORY OF I Ml COMMITTE1 ON SCIENC1 WD TECHNOLOGY 



As it turned out, the legislation was quietly buried in 1978, after a 

 hearing was unsuccessfully requested before the Rules Committee in 



July. 



The fact that the 1978 legislation was not enacted did nothing to 

 minimize the importance of the comprehensive hearing which the sub- 

 committee conducted and eight years of careful committee work carried 

 forward in the held. Reflecting on the DNA research inquiry, Thornton 

 observed just before he left office in 1978: 



It was our aim to bring into focus the best knowledge relating to DNA research. 

 At the time that we were beginning this scries of hearings, the voices were rather 

 loud and hysterical among people who could only see the hazards and fears concerning 

 recombinant DNA research. Our purpose was to have a forum in which we would 

 fully explore the risks, whatever they might be, also the science policy questions and 

 the benefits which might be achieved by DNA research. 



Thornton concluded : 



I think the presence of our full and complete hearings on DN'A research acted as 

 a stabilizing influence on the entire Congress. 



In 1979, the committee once again prevailed upon CRS to update 

 its analysis of DNA research. 



GEORGE BROWN AND GUAYULE 



Some Congressmen work and wait for years before their ideas ever 

 come to fruition by surviving the perils of the legislative process. 

 Early in 1978, California's George Brown, sixth-ranking member of 

 the Science Committee, introduced a bill called the "Native Latex 

 Commercialization Act of 1978." The exact title and substance of the 

 bill did not survive, but the general principles did. President Carter 

 signed the bill into law on November 4, 1978. What was the secret of 

 Brown's success? To be sure, Brown had tried to do something for 

 guayule for many years. But why was he successful in 1978? 



There is a dusty, two-foot high shrub resembling sagebrush which 

 grows in the semiarid regions of the Southwest called parthenium or 

 guayule plant, from which can be obtained a native latex rubber. 

 Brown had a longstanding interest in the possible development of a 

 native supply of rubber. He knew that during World War II around 

 Salinas and Bakersfield, Calif., some 9,000 workers and 1,000 scientists 

 were producing 15 tons of rubber a day from guayule. He was also 

 acquainted with some of the research work being done on guayule at 

 Los Angeles County Arboretum, and an engineering group in Pasa- 

 dena. Along came the National Academy of Sciences in 1977 with a 

 report on guayule, following a two-year study, which was favorable. 

 But additional research was needed to improve the genetic strain, to 



