201 
DR. FREDRICKSON: One final question, Dr. Walters. It has been suggested 
by a commentator, perhaps because in his view we are dealing here with purely 
hypothetical hazards, that these committees be called biosafety rather than 
biohazards committees. Did your committee have any feeling about that? 
DR. WALTERS: That suggestion came in subsequent to the last meeting 
of the Recombinant Advisory Committee. I have puzzled about that sugges- 
tion somewhat. It is a biological safety officer rather than a biohazards 
officer at the local institution, and there may be good grounds for accent- 
ing the positive so long as one doesn't forget the potential of hazards. 
DR. FREDRICKSON: Thank you very much, Dr. Walters. 
DR. GINSBERG: At least one university has already gone ahead on that 
without a change in the Guidelines. 
DR. FREDRICKSON: Thank you, Dr. Ginsberg. 
Let us go on now to hear from the invited witnessess in this area. There 
will be opportunity for the Committee to interchange with them as before. I 
must remind those who may be entering the docks for the first time that we 
have a strict five-minute time limit. You will receive a 30-second warning. 
Very often you have time to extend your comments in interchange with the 
Committee . 
I am first going to call on Dr. David T. Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki 
broadcaster as he lists himself here. He is a geneticist, one of 
known geneticists in Canada. We welcome him to both this country 
meet ing . 
DR. SUZUKI: Thank you very much. 
I am afraid I have come down with the flu, and I guess you could call it 
an Asian flu since it is affecting me. The only reason I came down was the 
tremendous ego trip of being a boy from the boondocks being invited down to an 
august body like this to talk. 
I don't know if I can squeeze this into five minutes, and I ask your 
indulgence . 
I am afraid I sit here a bit like a wart, because I am really not that 
concerned with the details of the Guidelines. My concerns are other. For the 
past 20 years science has been the dominant element of my life, giving me 
great joy and surprise beyond my wildest dreams. I care passionately about 
science as the highest form of intellectual activity in our culture, and it is 
in a long-term social context that I see the importance of the recombinant DNA 
issue. What has excited me about the public interest in recombinant DNA was 
the hope that scientists would have forced upon them a sense of social re- 
sponsibility while the public would be educated about the nature of science. 
Neither, I am afraid, has happened. 
is a science 
the better 
and this 
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