26 
food sources make it a moral imperative that we strongly oppose the 
blanket prohibition of this class of experiments." 
Dr. McKinney seconded the motion. 
Mr. Rifkin said he believed RAC members were well-intentioned; they would 
not be part of the medical research community if they did not think they 
were trying to iirpro/e the lot and welfare of humanity. Mr. Rifkin said 
it is very difficult for any profession to critique itself. He asked the 
members of the committee to lock at their world view before they made any 
’hasty" decision. 
Mr. Rifkin suggested RAC members were affected by the views they held about 
modem science; he asked the members of RAC to lock at those assumptions 
and consider that there are other people who do not share that world view. 
Mr. Rifkin said the history of every technological revolution shows that 
every great technology brings both benefits and costs. The more powerful 
and impressive the technology, the better able to expropriate, secure, and 
use natural resources for human needs, the greater the potential costs 
that will be heaped on the ecosystem and paid by future generations. 
Mr. Rifkin thought it either naive or disingenuous to believe that there 
are no risks, no costs associated with the biotechnology revolution. 
Mr. Rifkin reiterated his position that technologies mortgage the future to 
provide security for the present. He said: 
"I think there are certain technologies that are so powerful inherent to 
the technological categories themselves that we have to ask the question, 
is it appropriate to use them. " 
Mr. Rifkin said Dr. Brinster's experiments are an attempt to develcp super- 
animals, animals that would grow bigger and faster and provide commercial 
advantage in the market place. Mr. Rifkin contended that if this procedure 
becomes commercially feasible, livestock will be dramatically affected. 
The long-term implications are "model culturing" and the loss of gene 
diversity. "Model culturing" of animals will affect the well-being of 
society because society becomes more vulnerable to losses of these animals 
because the animals lack genetic diversity. 
Mr. Rifkin said: 
"There are specific parts of this genetic therapy that are more problema- 
tic than others but to suggest that at every juncture if we don't give 
the scientific community full license to pursue any kind of research 
in any area that we will be in seme way condemning all present and 
future human beings on this planet to suffering, disease, death, that 
to me suggests a syndrome of fear and it needs to be addressed...." 
Mr. Rifkin asked how RAC so "prematurely" reached the conclusion that the 
benefits in the long-run outweigh the risks; only a few experiments of this 
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