5 
Dr. Johnson discussed five principal items: the origin of the 10-liter 
limitation; the safety of E. coli K-12 as determined by recent risk assess- 
ment programs; the reliability and operating procedures of commercial scale 
fermentation equipment, including training of operators; medical surveillance 
program for equipment operators; and the current authority of OSHA and the FDA. 
He also said he agreed with Dr. Bingham's statements in her letter of 
December 17, 1979, to Dr. Fredrickson (appended as Attachment I) that "only 
when the risks are better understood, can a strong enforcement program be 
undertaken" and that "addressing the potential and real adverse health effects 
of recombinant DNA would provide an important basis for future regulatory 
action." He said at present there are no known real adverse health effects 
of recombinant DNA. 
Dr, Bernard Davis said E. coli K-12 is like a "hot house plant" which 
will not survive in the wild in competition with "weeds." In reply to those 
who say recombinant DNA could be more dangerous than chemicals because 
organisms can multiply, he noted that chemicals are stable while organisms 
either multiply or die out, and the ability for self-destruction can be built 
into them. He said that there has been hysteria about recombinant DMA, and 
that there should be positive evidence of risk before expensive regulatory 
schemes are put in place. There is no biological reason to expect any 
recombinant to be more dangerous than the host or the donor of the inserted 
DNA. Worker health is not protected by diverting time and effort away from 
real hazards to hypothetical hazards. 
Dr. Robbins said that one must look beyond the organism to the products 
to which workers are exposed. There is an unfortunate tradition of industry 
not telling workers about the hazards to which they are exposed. Perhaps the 
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