Charles Weber 
141 Mt. Horeb Road 
Warren, New Jersey 07060 
Dec. 29, 1981 
Director, Office of reconiblnent DNA Activities 
Building 31, Boom UA52 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20205 
Dear Sirs: 
Making anything to do vlth recomhlnent genetics voluntary Is similar 
to making stopping at a red llc^t voluntary, only potentially much more 
ominous . 
For scientists to speak of recomhlnent vork as harmless because years 
of vork have produced no had Illness Is In the same category as a biologist 
defending his God given rl^t to strev garbage around his yard, harbor pet 
rats, and run his sevage In an open channel, giving as a defense that he has 
been doing It for years and none of his family has come down vlth bubonic 
plague or cholera yet. Relatively he Is rl^t, but the recomhlnent researchers 
are not. The biologist can establish the status quo In one afternoon, should 
so many come to love rats that the plague threatens. Ihe recomhlnent 
researchers not only never can, they can’t even know If the status quo has 
been altered or to vhat end. 
Some bizarre thing, like a disease turning all the wheat In the 
country bitter, would have a sensational Impact. However, It would be 
virtually Inconsequential compared to some of the horror that could unfold, 
little more significant than the killer bee's Invasion of South America or 
the rabbits that have found a happy home In Australia . The possibility that 
worries me Is the Introduction of some potent, or even Innocuous gene where 
It was not before, which evolving for a long time could surface to plague 
our children a million years hence. Ihere are chemical defense developements 
which almost certainly took tens of millions of years to evolve In termites. 
Ve say that we must have the medical progress that recomhlnent work 
Implies. Then, -disregarding decades of legitimate, reliable research, we fill 
our guts with fermented sugar, our lungs with poisonous smoke, our soils with 
lead and cadmium, and emasculate our food so badly that not even meal wcrau 
can survive on It. Ihen when the tottering gelatinous mass of protoplasm 
which results starts to creak and falter we say we absolutely must take 
desperate dangerous risks to develops magic ellzers to shore It up. I don't 
buy It. 
At least If the decision Is to proceed, maintain regulatory safegaurds 
for all, especially Industry, Then add one more layer of safety- use only 
organisms which must have water and can not live In or on animals, and perform 
all experiments In the middle of a desert. 
Sincerely Yours, 
Charles Weber 
I 
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