Gen«, 3(1978) 265-268 265 
O ESMTwr/North-HolUnd Biomedical Preaa, Amsterdam — Printed in The Netherlands 
Invited Editorial 
VALEDIC7TORY BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NIH RECX)MBINANT 
DNA MOLECULE PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE* 
I am taking a Chairman's prerogative to invade the printed agenda*. I should 
like at this time to share with you the reasons why I have felt impelled to re- 
sign my chairmanship of this (Committee. Shortly after our last meeting of 
November 1977, I asked the Director, NIH, to accept my resignation and find 
a replacement for this chairmanship. He asked me to assist in the selection of 
a new Chairman and I have provided to him the names of candidates from 
which he is soon to make a choice. I am certain that you will be pleased with 
the name of my successor, and that the C!!ommittee will give the new (Ilhairman 
the same devotion and industry which it has given to me. 
There were, of course, personal reasons for my resignation. I am four years 
older than I was when I was first appointed, I fatigue more easily, and, as you 
are all aware, my visual acuity has continued to decrease until I am able to 
read only a very small fraction of the large amount of paper which passes over 
my desk in relation to this function. In addition, I have had a growing un- 
happiness with some of the directions which the recombinant DNA program 
has taken over the past four years. Prom my conversations with members of 
the Committee, I believe that this unhappiness is shared by some of you, and 
this may be a good opportunity to verbalize this discontent. 
Prior to the Asilomar meeting of February 1975, I had had only modest 
contact with nucleic acids and with genetics. I had worked in the laboratory 
with lipids, polysaccharides, and proteins, but had never handled any nucleic 
acids. I had never worked on a genetic problem, and had certainly never engaged 
in microbiological research. Except for some briefing which I secured from 
members of the intramural NIH family, I came to Asilomar cold. 
It has taken me several years to analyze and unscramble the experience of 
the Asilomar meeting. I now understand it more fully than I did at the time. 
It had many elements of a religious revival meeting. I heard several colleagues 
declaim against sin, I heard others admit to having sinned, and there was a 
general feeling that we should all go forth and sin no more. The imagery which 
was presented was surely vivid, but the data were scanty. I recall one scientist 
presenting information on the difficulty of colonizing ^e intestinal tract with 
E$cherichia coli K-12, but his presentation was given little attention. We were 
all, in effect, led down to the river to be baptized and we all went willin^y. I, 
for one, left the meeting enthralled. I had never been to a scientific meeting 
which had so excited me. On my return to Bethesda, I was asked to summarize 
*Pr*»«nt«d at the meeting of the Recombinant DNA Molecule Program Advisory Committee, 
April 28, 1978,' NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. 
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