I. 
INTRODUCTION 
Good day, Mr. Chairman and other Committee members. I am pleased 
to appear before you today to discuss Federal policies concerning 
recombinant DNA techniques. Specifically, I want to tell you about 
the activities of two organizations — the National Institutes of Health 
and the Federal Interagency Committee on Recombinant DNA Research. 
Recent scientific developments in genetics, particularly in the 
last four years, have culminated in the development of a powerful new 
tool for research — the ability to join together genetic materials from 
different sources in cell-free systems to form recombinant DNA molecules. 
I would like to emphasize the point that recombinant DNA is a tool for 
accomplishing the types of research that scientists have been pursuing 
for decades. "DNA" — which is the shorthand way of saying "deoxyribo- 
nucleic acid" — is the material that determines hereditary characteristics 
of all known cells. Thus altered cells are created with the ability to 
replicate themselves. From testimony already received, you are aware 
that this new and powerful tool of science has generated great hope 
and excitement and, concomitantly, many expressions of concern. 
Research using recombinant DNA techniques offers great promise for 
better understanding and improved treatment of human diseases. Medical 
advances through use of this technology include the opportunity to 
explore complicated diseases and the functioning of cells, to better 
understand a variety of hereditary defects, and possibly (in the future) 
to create microorganisms useful in producing medically important 
substances for the treatment and control of disease. Aside from 
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