Dr. William J. Gartland, Jr. 
January 29, 1982 
Page three 
generate a high level of risky byproducts. Second, regula- 
tory approaches are needed at such an early stage. By the 
time a technology is in place, and a level of commercial pro- 
duction achieved, we have generally responded with a regula- 
tory apparatus. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates 
toxic substances as well as industrial pollution; the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission governs the hazards of nuclear power 
generation; OSHA regulates the workplace. Such regulation may 
be inadequate, but at least a mechanism to assess risks is 
in place. The same cannot be said for the regulation of 
scientific research at its inception. Recombinant DNA research 
and the biotechnology that has emerged from it command our 
attention because of scientific perceptions of the promise 
of the technique in uncovering areas of ignorance about human 
genetic structure, and the promise of profitable commercial 
applications. It is a paradigm case, like the development 
of nuclear research in the fifties, for hazards as part of the 
research itself, raising questions about the technique, its 
directions, and the effectiveness of scientific self-regulation 
when confronted with risky research. 
Professional self-regulation , through a "voluntary code 
of standard practice," will be ineffective in controlling 
hazardous experiments. 
A brief account of the status of the scientific enterprise 
as a profession will illustrate the limits of such self-regulation. 
Science is a profession, sharing common features with law 
and medicine, such as a high educational requirement for entry; 
a monopolistic position with regard to the performance of certain 
functions; control of admission standards; and authority of pro- 
fessional bodies over member conduct and resulting hostility to 
lay involvement. 
First, the profession specializes in the development and 
application of powerful knowledge, that is, knowledge considered 
vital to society's needs. The methods of science are formulated 
and accepted by the scientific community; the results of research 
are measured by criteria that the particular scientific specialty 
has developed. Science is thus a self-defined enterprise, rarely 
subject to external scrutiny. Extended specialized training in 
the corpus of knowledge of the profession is typical, and this 
socializing experience is longer and more encompassing than that 
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