28 
suggesting a reluctance of industry to fully comply with the Federal 
guidelines was that it is not possible to commit resources to a course of 
action until it is known to a higher degree of precision than is now 
possible just what the course of action will be. In other words, while 
the industries view compliance with the guidelines as a necessary part 
of business, additional funding to provide facilities will be necessary 
when and if such development occurs commercially. Industries want 
to know more about the precise requirements with which they will be 
confronted before they indicate more formally their willingness to 
follow such guidelines or to commit resources to meet such regulations. 
Long-Term Interests 
The industrial view will be more long-term than the basic research- 
ers’ perspective according to Dr. Cape. Commercial application of 
DXA recombinant techniques will require extreme safety because 
applications years in advance cannot be assumed and funds provided 
unless there is a high degree of assurance that untoward effects will 
not occur and block utilization of such processes. For this reason, 
industry will be examining a number of alternative organisms and 
research systems, and hopes to find even safer systems than E. coli 
if this is at all possible or necessary. In order to meet economic de- 
mands, considerable developmental work will be required. Xone of 
this will happen quickly, and so there should be time for careful, 
considerate development of the best way to meet any potential 
hazard issues while at the same time not adding unnecessarily to the 
costs of rate of development. Disincentives to development could 
occur and deny opportunities for commercialization should excessive 
regulatory requirements evolve. Since any commercial exploitation is 
still long-range in potential application, all of the problems and 
programs cannot be identified with precision; however, experience 
with other commercial developments of this type indicate the stages 
from the research to profits are long and fraught with difficulty and 
many failures. 
On the other hand, Dr. Cape indicated that less dramatic develop- 
ments may evolve more quickly from DXA recombinant research 
which will improve current processes such as better microorganisms 
for industrial fermentation — cheeses, antibiotics, beer, etc. He con- 
siders this an important possibility today because it may enable us 
to move from decreasing supplies of petroleum as a source for many 
industrial chemicals to other renewable resources. More than likely, 
the first commercial applications will be in these less glamorous 
and less dramatic areas of improved efficiency of existing processes. 
[Appendix B — 77] 
