Mr. Studds. Let me say to our witnesses that, as always, we are 

 under a regrettable press for time here. We have asked each of you 

 to confine your oral testimony to no more than five minutes. Your 

 written testimony will appear in its entirety in the record. 



Mr. Studds. As usual, we apologize in advance for the barbarity 

 of the light system you see in front of you. When the yellow lights 

 goes on, that is your one-minute warning, and when the red light 

 goes on, you are done. We apologize for the brutality of that. 



We will hear from all six of you before we go to questions. Our 

 first witness, Dr. Thomas Eisner of Cornell, I am told is one of the 

 best leading arguments against our five-minute rule. I profusely 

 apologize. I understand I will regret having announced the rule in 

 the first place. Dr. Eisner, Director of the Cornell Institute for Re- 

 search and Chemical Ecology, welcome. 



STATEMENT OF DR. THOMAS EISNER, DIRECTOR, CORNELL IN- 

 STITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND CHEMICAL ECOLOGY, CORNELL 

 UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, NEW YORK 



Mr. Eisner. Thank you sir. My name is Thomas Eisner. I am 

 Professor of Biology at Cornell University and Director of Cornell's 

 Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology. I am a member of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, former President of the American 

 Society of Naturalists, and former Chairman of the Section of Biol- 

 ogy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 the largest scientific organization in the United States. 



I am a chemical ecologist. I work on the chemicals of nature. I 

 try to isolate new substances from organisms and attempt to deter- 

 mine how these substances function and how they might be put to 

 applied use. 



Humans have benefited from natural substances since time im- 

 memorial. Nature has provided us with spices and perfumes, glues 

 and solvents, countless agrochemicals such as fungicides, pesticides, 

 and insect repellents— and, most importantly, it has given us medi- 

 cinals. Fully one-third of medical prescriptions given out annually 

 in the United States are based on substances derived from nature 

 or synthesized in imitation of natural substances. "Miracle drugs" 

 continue to be discovered to this very day. Examples of recent addi- 

 tions to our medical arsenal include: Vincristine and vinblastine, 

 anticancer agents from a periwinkle plant; avermectins, worm-kill- 

 ers from molds; and cyclosporin and FK 506, immunosuppressants 

 used in organ transplants, also from molds. 



As a chemical ecologist, I have come to realize that the vast ma- 

 jority of natural chemicals remains to be discovered. Of the 30 mil- 

 lion species estimated to inhabit our planet, most have yet to be 

 described, let alone studied chemically. Only about 5 percent of 

 species have been formally named; the fraction that has been stud- 

 ied chemically is orders of magnitude smaller. 



I am also aware that species are disappearing faster than we are 

 able to examine them chemically. The chemical treasury of nature 

 is literally disappearing before we have had a chance to assess it. I 

 find that reality disconcerting. We cannot afford, in years ahead, to 

 be deprived of the inventions of nature. Chemicals such as ivermec- 

 tin and FK 506 could not have been designed by human ingenui- 



