9 
by DNA researchers) the responsibilities for protecting the public. 
To recapitulate, safety is not an objective determination. It is 
value-laden, subjective, and in a sense, political. The Guideline pro- 
visions do not provide adequate mechanisms for determining safety standards 
for recombinant DNA research, nor for implementing standards which are 
developed. 
The Dangers of a Scientific Elite in a Democratic Society 
Our current society has been characterized by many commentators as 
qualitatively different from those which have preceded it; for instance, 
the Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell has called it a "post-industrial society." 
One of the hallmarks of such a society, according to Bell and others, is 
that knowledge has become a source of power, much in the way that money 
in and of itself was a source of power in earlier societies, or a noble 
title in societies preceding those. Knowledge about scientific developments; 
as well as access to the technological implementation of such scientific 
information, have become political commodities. Those who dispense the 
benefits of scientific and technological development become important power 
holders in our society. 
Although, as I have noted,. scientific researchers in the recombinant 
DNA area have gone considerably beyond what has traditionally been the norm 
in informing the public about the implications of their work, I believe 
that the experience to date with the regulatory processes has still been 
inadequate. An "old boy network" exists and flourishes in the DNA field 
and would not be significantly ameliorated by the instances of public 
participation contained in the new Guidelines. 
This is most glaring in regard to the composition of the IBCs . 
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