Dr. W. J. Gartland 
- 2 - 
October 17, 1984 
agents. Such transfers, although infrequent, appear to be natural steps in 
evolution. Mr. Rifkin is surely not well-informed when he tries to protect a 
non-existent principle of species integrity. 
The moral or ethical basis for forbiding any gene transfer between humans 
and mammalian species is also unsupported in Mr. Rifkin' s statement. He fails to 
consider the need to investigate the function of normal and defective human genes 
in animals in order to understand the effects and possible correction of their 
malfunction in human patients. Nor does he consider other benefits that might be 
obtained by introducing the genes from one mammalian species into another. One 
such benefit that can be envisaged is the improvement of our livestock. By all 
means such experiments should be considered carefully and their potential 
benefits weighed against any harm they might do. We should also be careful to 
avoid unwarranted suffering in experimental animals. But Mr. Rifkin is asking 
for a blanket prohibition on moral grounds. In doing this he shows that his view 
of morality is sorely limited, for he does not consider the moral harm of 
allowing human genetic abnormalities, some of which cause great misery, to go 
uninvestigated when we have available tools for their study and possible 
treatment. The door would be closed on important avenues to the alleviation of 
human suffering if Mr. Rifkin' s amendments were to be passed. 
I urge the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee to reject both Mr. Rifkin' s 
amendments, on the basis of the unsupported nature of their premises, and because 
their adoption would prevent the carrying out of many invaluable experiments 
aimed at avoiding in the future unnecessary suffering in human families in which 
genetic abnormalities presently occur. 
Sincerely, 
Oliver Smithies ,M. A. ,D.Phil(Oxon) 
Hilldale Professor of Genetics 
and Medical Genetics 
OS :FM 
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