TESTIMONY FOR HEW PUBLIC HEARINGS ON PROPOSED REVISED GUIDELINES 
FOR RECOMBINANT DNA RESEARCH 
September 15, 1978 
David L. Coplin, Assistant Professor, Ohio Agricultural Research and 
Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio 44619 
I AM A ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PLANT PATHOLOGY AT THE OARDC WHICH IS THE 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION FOR THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AND A MEMBER 
OF THE AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON RECOMBINANT 
DNA. MY TRAINING IS IN BOTH PLANT PATHOLOGY AND BACTERIOLOGY AND I AM 
CURRENTLY STUDYING THE GENETICS OF PLANT PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 
AS PLANT SCIENTIST, I AM CONCERNED THAT GENETIC STUDIES ON PLANTS AND PLANT 
PARASITES HAVE BEEN DELAYED UNDER THE PRESENT GUIDELINES FOR RECOMBINANT 
DNA RESEARCH. TODAY I WILL BE ADDRESSING THE PROPOSED REVISED GUIDELINES 
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A PLANT PATHOLOGIST. EACH YEAR THE COST OF PLANT 
DISEASES TO THIS COUNTRY IS VERY HIGH IN TERMS OF CROP LOSSES AND THE 
EXPENSE OF CONTROLLING THEM. DUE TO CONCERNS FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT AND THE 
PUBLIC SAFETY MANY PESTICIDES HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFF THE MARKET AND RELATIVELY 
FEW NEW ONES ARE BEING DEVELOPED. THIS SITUATION INCREASES OUR NEED FOR 
BASIC RESEARCH IN PLANT PATHOLOGY SO THAT NEW CONTROL PROCEDURES CAN BE 
DEVISED. AT PRESENT; IT IS NOT KNOWN EXACTLY WHAT PROPERTIES ENABLE ONLY 
CERTAIN SPECIALIZED PATHOGENS TO CAUSE DISEASE WHILE CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES 
CANNOT. LIKEWISE^WE DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY HOW PLANTS RECOGNIZE POTENTIAL 
PARASITES. DISEASE PHYSIOLOGISTS STUDYING PLANT PATHOGENS AND DISEASE 
RESISTANCE HAVE BEEN HANDICAPPED IN THEIR APPROACHES TO THESE PROBLEMS DUE 
T415] 
