Ch. 5— The Chemical Industry • 99 
cisco, initially (Ifpendecl largely on outside 
scientists. 
• Biogen, S. \.. was organized In prolessors 
at Har\ard and MM plus six Kuropean sci- 
entists. and placed RiSt 1) contracts w ith aca- 
ch'iiiic researchers. 
• ('ollahoratix e (i('netics has a .\ohel prize 
w inner from Mi l as the chairman ot its sci- 
entitic ad\ isor\ hoard. 
• Ih hritech. Inc., has as its scientific nucleus 
a UniwrsitN of ('alilornia, .San Diego, pro- 
fessor complemented In scientists at the 
Salk Institute. 
In addition to the.se companies, otluM's ha\ e also 
been establishing clo.ser ties with the academic 
community. 
Much of the research that will he u.seful to in- 
dustry w ill continue to he carried out in uni\ er- 
sity laboratories. .\t ()res(Mit, it is often difficult 
to decide w helher a re.search |)roject should he 
classifieil as "l)a.sic" (generally more interesting 
to an academic I'e.searcherl oi' "applied " (gener- 
ally more interesting to industry). E.g., a change 
in the genetic code, w hich increases gene acti\ i- 
ty, would be just as exciting to a basic scientist 
as to an industrial one. 
This dialog between tbe uni\ersities and in- 
dustry— both through formal and informal ar- 
rangements— has fostered inno\ation. .Although 
the number of patents applied for is not a direct 
reflection of tbe le\ el of inno\ ation, it is still one 
indication. B\- the end of 1980, several hundred 
patent applications were filed for genetically 
engineered micro-organisms, their products, 
and their processes. 
I'niversity research has clearly affected in- 
dustrial development, and has in turn been af- 
fected by industry. .Although the benefits are 
easily recognized, some drawbacks have been 
suggested. The most serious is the concern that 
univ ersity scientists will be restrained in their 
academic pursuits and in their exchange of in- 
formation and research material. To date, anec- 
dotal information suggests that some scientists 
are being more circumspect about sharing in- 
formation. Still, secrecy is not new to highly 
competitive areas of biomedical research. In ad- 
dition, scientists in other academic disciplines 
u.seful (o incluslrv— such as clu'misiry and phys- 
ics-have manag('d lo achicnc a halaiK'c he- 
(ween secrecv and openiK'ss. 
77if sfH'iul impiu'ts nf local 
iiulustrial acti city 
D('spii(‘ the extensive media (U)verage of 
rl)\.A and other forms ol geiuUic engim?ering, 
there is little ev ick'ucc' that peopU? vv ho liv e near 
companii's using such t('chni(|ues are still great- 
ly concerned about possihU* hazards. This may 
he partly owing to a lack of awareness that a 
particular companv is doing g(>n(>tic r(?search 
and partly he('aus(‘ companies thus far have 
adhered to the National lnstitut(?s of Health 
(N'llll Guidelines. Some compani(‘s hav(? |)laced 
individuals on theii’ institutional biosafety com- 
mittees who ai'(> res|)(*cted and trusted mem- 
bers of the local community. Ry involving the 
local citizens with no vested cor|)orate interest, 
a mechanism for oversight has he(Mi provided. 
(For a moi'e detailed discussion, see ch. 1 1.) 
Impacts on manpower 
I'wo tv [)es of impacts on vvorkei’s can he ex- 
[)ected: 
• The creation of jobs that replace those held 
by others. E.g., a worker involved in 
chemical production might be replaced by 
one producing the same product biologi- 
cally. 
• The creation of new jobs. 
Workers in three categories would be af- 
fected: 
• those actually involv ed in the fermentation- 
production phase of the industry; 
• those inv olved in the R&.D phase of the in- 
dustry, particularly professionals; and 
• those in support industries. 
Projections of manpower requirements are 
only as accurate as the projections of the level of 
industrial activity. In the past 5 years, about 750 
new jobs hav e been created within the small ge- 
netic engineering firms (including monoclonal 
antibody producers). Of these, approximately 
one-third hold Ph. D. degrees. 
