sensitive it is said to respond to 2 parts per billion of diethylstilbestrol, and I have no 
doubt that under appropriate conditions it does. Since it is a test for estrogenic activity, 
would it respond to an equivalent amount of coumestrol, an estrogen which naturally 
occurs in varying amounts in alfalfa, in an animal grazing on alfalfa or fed on alfalfa 
meal containing this estrogen? Conversely, would it reveal bound stilbestrol or meta- 
bolites of stilbestrol which might be devoid of estrogenic activity but biologically active 
in other ways? 
The use of heptachlor has been severely limited by the discovery that its use under 
some conditions resulted in small residues of its epoxide. Until we know the metabolic 
fate of every chemical we use and of all of their metabolites, how can we be sure that we 
can meet zero tolerances? Until we have quick, specific, reliable, as well as sensitive 
methods for analysis for each of these chemicals and their metabolites, how can we be 
sure that prohibited uses have not resulted in illegal residues? Under the Department’s 
meat and poultry inspection responsibility for individual carcass certification for whole- 
someness, the urgency for development of such methods is very great. 
My remarks so far have dealt principally withan immediate situation. Responsibility 
for the future is far more important. If our population continues to grow at its present 
rate, food production must keep pace. At present yields and appetites we can expect 
shortages within 20 years. 
Weeds, disease, parasites, insects, and other hazards presently limit our yields of 
crops and livestock by an amount estimated to be equal to present yields from 120 
million cropland acres--about a third of our present harvest. In addition to demonstrated 
yield increases from use of chemical fertilizers, success in growth-promotant use of 
gibberellins, hormones, antibiotics, and arsenicals gives us assurance that research can 
further increase productive efficiency through appropriate use of chemicals. 
Research to meet these needs must be founded on basic research to find specific 
substances affecting specific metabolic processes specific to certain kinds of plants, 
animals, insects, or microbes. While we seek such specific information, we must de- 
termine any indirect effects. 
We all recognize the need for basic research. It has been defined in many ways. My 
definition is: Basic research consists of the identification and evaluation of parameters, 
both constants and variables, and the determination of their action and interaction 
throughout their effective range. Applying this definition to our present need, we must 
seek, for example, the presence or absence of specific enzymes, such as that which 
makes the herbicide 2-4-DB a potentially useful mustard killer. We must seek chemicals 
which will hasten and heighten specific desirable antibody responses. Above all else we 
must speed up our research on the metabolism of crop plants and livestock species, on 
their parasites, predators and competing species and on the metabolic interrelationships 
which determine specific host-parasite and predator-prey relationships. In order to 
attack these relationships selectively we must know completely the chemical, genetic, 
and nutritional and ecological factors affecting these relationships. 
Let us examine briefly research responsibility in the feed, fertilizer, and chemical 
application areas. As background for this discussion consider these facts: The only 
general Federal statute providing regulation of interstate commerce in feed is the Food 
and Drug Act, which prohibits the movement of adulterated or misbranded feeds in inter- 
state commerce. The New Drug provision of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the 
several amendments providing for establishment of tolerances for pesticide and other 
chemicals, the food additives amendment, and finally the Delaney proviso in the food 
additives amendment have, in fact, provided a legal basis for Federal regulation of every 
feed and food moving ininterstate commerce, andof fertilizers formulated with pesticides 
which may be translocated by crop plants and thus enter animal feeds. Veterinary drugs 
applied by qualified veterinarians and chemicals applied in official regulatory programs 
are equally affected if such use results in presence of residues of the chemicals or 
their metabolites in feed or food moving in interstate commerce. It is not enough to have 
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