-3- 
any bacterium can transfer genetic information to a more 
robust host. Since bacteria are ubiquitous, the polyoma 
genes could eventually be disseminated throughout the 
ecosystem. At present they are limited in their range 
by the adaptedness of their normal packaging to certain 
species of mammal. 
7. Could polyoma genes harm man or any other organ- 
ism outside their normal host range? At present virtually 
nothing is known about the mechanisms by which polyoma and 
other viruses cause cancer. Most cell biologists suspect 
that the basic mechanisms are not numerous. Different 
susceptibilities to a given virus among different species 
of mammal could represent aspects of recognition that 
have little to do with the underlying basis of transforma- 
tion to the cancerous state. When cancer causing genes 
are reproduced apart from their normal packaging (which 
after all, is what is recognized by the exposed organism) 
in hosts which can survive in a wide variety of higher 
organisms, including man, their carcinogenic effectiveness 
could be enhanced in those organisms. 
8. No details are given on the proposed handling of 
the "inactivated bacterial lysates". But as the genetic 
infortffation in this material can be taken up by a wide 
variety of bacteria, the transfer of this material between 
laboratories presents a unique hazard to the ecological 
system. 
Kathleen u. pickett 
[Appendix C — 229] 
