Marc Lappi, Ph.D. 
REGULATING RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH: PULLING BACK FROM THE APOCALYPSE 
By early 1972, molecular biologist Paul Berg at Stanford and 
a small group of colleagues at the leading Institutions In the United 
States knew that they were standing on the brink of something momentous: 
for the first time, they had succeeded in producing a whole new category 
of microorganisms which previously had not existed In nature. The 
potential benefits to be reaped appeared enormous: the block they had 
all encountered In breaking into the genetic material of higher 
organisms had now been surmounted. They could simply take E. coll , 
their old workhorse, and Jam it full of the DNA segments which they 
wished to study from higher organisms. Let the bacteria replicate 20 
or 30 times and you would have all the material you could ever wish 
for analysis. Moreover, the possibilities for application once this 
technique was perfected promised a veritable cornucopia of unforeseen 
possibilities: human insulin or growth hormone genes could be Inserted 
and their now rare product collected; plants currently unable to break 
down nitrogen could be conferred with nltrogen-f Ixlng ability, and 
enhanced quantities and quality pf plant protein genetically en- 
gineered Into previously recalcitrant hosts. Yet, Berg end his 
fellow researchers also recognized the enormity of the risks which 
some of this work entailed. Some hazardous experiments had In fact 
already been undertaken. 
Appendix K — 10 
