19 
Dr. Wald 
George Wald, Harvard University, voiced his concern about the 
significance of the DNA recombinant technique. As he discussed his 
observations on this issue, he asked whether society really should 
support the development of knowledge which would provide 
the ability to tamper with or otherwise modify all living organisms. 
He regards this issue as a major question which must be addressed 
more adequately before any final decision is made regarding the reg- 
ulation of such research. He did caution, however, that he should not 
be misinterpreted as wishing to deny access to knowledge. With 
reference to the availability of alternate techniques for acquiring basic 
knowledge about the structure of DNA, he suggests that many of 
these methods, while requiring more time, could provide similar data 
with less risk or interference with evolutionary barriers to gene 
transmittal. As Dr. Wald pointed out, he would have little difficulty 
in accepting the use of the DNA recombinant molecule method if 
the research was limited to the little or no risk category (permitted 
under Pi experimental conditions) and which restricted the experi- 
ments to species which regularly exchange genes in nature. His com- 
ments make obvious the concern felt by other investigators as well 
that this technique is significant since it represents a tremendous 
stride toward capabilities which have not been fully assessed. 
Dr. Baltimore 
David Baltimore, Professor of Microbiology, MIT, made a number 
of comments about the importance of the use of bacteria in the DNA 
recombinant method. First as noted before, bacteria contain a much 
smaller number of genes and can be easily manipulated in the labora- 
tory. They have been easier to study genetically than higher organisms. 
This simplicity is relative to the more complex DNA in higher orga- 
nisms for even with the bacteria progress has been slow. Recombinant 
DNA technology has offered a partial solution by permitting the 
study of the genes of higher organisms by placing them in the simpler 
genetic environment of bacteria. Individual mammalian or other 
genes can be isolated and their function studied independently. 
[Appendix B — 69] 
