accepted, scientific practice, due to the present state of knowledge 
(or ignorance) of the virus and of cancer epidemiology. However, 
even if the premise were correct, since the_E. coli with which 
cancer virus is to be combined is known to live in people , there 
is no way of knowing in advance if the combination of the two will 
result in an organism capable of causing cancer in humans. 
9 . The protocol states that the National Institutes of Health 
intends to make "inactivated bacterial lysates available to 
interested investigators . " This means that the E_. coli cells 
containing the polyoma cancer genes will be burst open (lysed) and 
will no longer be able to reproduce by themselves . Yet the genetic 
information is still active within such lysates and can be transferred 
to other living cells in which it can then reproduce . The protocol 
implies that the lysates will not be provided P-4 containment — 
the highest form of safety — and will not be subject to the safeguards 
that exist at earlier stages in the genetic combination research. 
Such lysates present at least as much of a hazard as the recombinant 
E_. coli , which are afforded P-4 treatment, in that they can be 
dispersed in dust and air, and because the inactivated lysate is 
able to infect other E_. coli , or might be taken up by the cells of 
the investigator. A real threat to the contamination of the environment 
exists under this portion of the protocol. 
[Appendix C — 63] 
