11 
Judge Bazelon^s presence here today reminds me of a quotation from 
his friend Felix Frankfurter, who wrote that, "The history of liberty has 
largely been the history of the observance of procedural safeguards." Pro- 
cedural safeguards with a full exploration of relevant facts and possible 
alternatives must be the hallmark of the scientific process if we are to 
retain the trust and the wholehearted support of society. This is the 
challenge before us today. 
If there be no questions from the committee, I propose that we take 
up that challenge forthwith. 
Proceeding, then, to the agenda, we are going to begin with Dr. Paul 
Berg, Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford University Medical School, and 
already alluded to as one of the prime movers at the beginning of the 
moratorium which exists today, and about which we are discussing guidelines. 
Dr. Berg, it is a pleasure to have you with us, and the forum is yours. 
DR. BERG: I deeply appreciate. Dr. Fredrickson, your invitation to 
participate in these hearings. It is a long road to come to this room. 
My purpose this morning is to try to review some of the scientific 
aspects of the new methodology referred to as recombinant DNA experiments, 
and also to try to summarize several of the potential benefits, both at the 
fundamental, theoretical level, as well as the practical level, and try to 
indicate at least some of the more obvious risks that have struck many of 
us who have been involved in this effort. 
Then, I would like to recount a little bit about the history of how 
we came to the Asilomar conference, and then another colleague, Dr. Singer, 
will review the work that has come about since then. 
Let me begin by pointing out that the past 25 years have witnessed a 
virtual revolution in our understanding of the structure and the workings 
of the genetic machinery of living cells. Although the theoretical impli- 
cations of this understanding were apparent to biologists and chemists 
from the very beginning, the possible practical benefits of this knowledge 
to medicine, agriculture and industry have become clear only recently. 
Now, one of the benefits that captured the imaginations of scientists 
and laymen alike was the notion of "genetic engineering." By that I mean 
the directed modification or even construction of new kinds of genetic 
constitutions for animals, plants and, eventually, of man. But partly 
because of the exaggerated and often misleading claims of the popular 
press, and of scientists and laymen alike, the words "genetic engineering" 
evoke concern as well as excitement. Because of that concern, society has 
expected that there would be a reckoning of the consequences before anybody 
would proceed with this line of experimentation. 
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