7 
In addition, industriad af^lications of reccnibinant organistns generally 
involve routine fermentations. Fermentation is not a new industry and nost 
of the problem areas are know:. Cr. Henry said HIMA has several questions 
about the proposed medical surveillamce program: V*k> will pay for the ©cams 
and serum storage? How frequently should examinations occur? If surveyed 
groups will be snail, how can long term epidemiolog iced studies even be 
contemplated? Cr. Landrigan replied that the specifics of the OK/NIOSH 
reconrendation, physiced examination, iraintenance of serum samples, and 
retention of records, are innocuous. He thought reputable firms in the field 
currently follow these procedures and a few more ^ls well: the bigger the conpany 
^lnd the more sophisticated the technology the more li)cely medical surveillance 
programs are ectcint. 
Dr. Mason said industrial health problems should be detected at the earliest 
possible mcment. lb that end, comunication between industry, labor and go\«m- 
raent is necessary. Cr. Johnson said that industry has a responsibility tx> its 
enployees, and he thou^t industry by auid large met that responsibility. 
Industry has liability considerations vfiich are a motivation to be very careful. 
He felt that although worker health is a serious issue, it is already reasonably 
well handled by the industry. 
Dr. McKinney said medical surveillance is one method of assessing the effective- 
ness of containment. He said that in early stages of industriad development 
the methodology bo assess whether infection or disease have occurred is not 
necessarily available. The means bo assess the consequence of exposir^ to the 
technology roust be considered and developed, and thus the necessity for mediccd 
surveillance programs roust be evaliated. 
[ 493 ] 
