2 
Further concerns expressed by the scientific community about this 
legislation center on provisions for civil and criminal penalties 
and on standards for Federal preemption to ensure uniform standards 
and regulations. 
It now appears that no legislation will be passed in this session of 
Congress. In the House, the Subcommittee report and bill has yet to 
receive full Committee approval. In the Senate, Senator Kennedy has 
announced that he is considering a simple bill that would merely 
extend the NIH Guidelines nationally while a commission would study 
the whole matter for a year and report to Congress with legislative 
recommendat ions . 
The Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space (Senate Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation), chaired by Senator Stevenson, 
scheduled recombinant DNA Oversight hearings for November 2, 8, and 10; 
and Mr. Thornton, chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Research, 
and Technology (House Committee on Science and Technology), has expressed 
an interest in holding hearings. 
Review of Scientific Activities 
Dr. Fredrickson reviewed three events which have served to change the 
opinion of many scientists concerning the potential hazards associated 
with the use of recombinant DNA technology: 
Dr. Roy Curtiss III, Professor of Microbiology at the University 
of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, and others have demon- 
strated that biological containment measures — methods developed to 
weaken bacteria used in the experiments — would prevent these bacteria 
from surviving in a natural environment if they were to escape from 
the laboratory. 
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