Ch. 7 — The Use of Genetically Engineered Micro-Organisms in the Environment • 131 
Certainly the Go\ ernment can facilitate com- 
munication: in the health field, MH, for in- 
stance, is an effectixe stimulus for contacts 
among scientists. 
The possible ad\ antages and disacK antages of 
university-industry interaction is illusti'ated by 
a recent case in\ ol\ ing a plan by Harx ard L'ni- 
\ ersity to collaborate with a genetic engineering 
company. The plan had called for the establish- 
ment of a corporation to commercialize the 
results of research being done in the laboratory 
of a Harxard molecular biologist, who would 
ha\e been a principal in the firm. The Univer- 
sity would not ha\e been inxoKed in financing 
or managing the firm, which would also ha\e 
been housed separately from the campus. How- 
ever, Harxard would ha\e derixed substantial 
income if the company proxed successful 
through a gift of 10 to 15 percent of the equity 
and a royalty on sales. .After much debate 
among the Harxard faculty and educators na- 
tionxvide, the administration decided not to im- 
plement the plan because of concerns about 
possible adx erse impacts on academic x alues. 
Proponents of such arrangements argue that 
the unix ersities should reap some return from 
the commercialization of research conducted 
by tbeir staff. In addition, many universities are 
pressed for money, and joint xentures or re- 
search funding arrangements xvith industry 
provide an attractixe source of funds for re- 
search programs, especially xvhen Federal sup- 
port may decline. In return, industry xvould 
gain access to the kind of fundamental research 
that is the foundation for innovation and ap- 
pears to be especially crucial in the field of ge- 
netic engineering, xvhere the gap betxveen basic 
research and product dexelopment is smaller 
than for other fields. 
Opponents of these arrangements, especially 
ones inx'olx’ing significant interaction as in the 
Harx ard plan, fear that the profit-seeking goals 
of industry may be incompatible xvith academic 
x alues. The folloxx ing possible adverse impacts, 
among others, have been articulated: 1) in- 
crease in secrecy, to the detriment of the free 
exchange of ideas so important in academia; 2) 
discrimination by the university in its hiring and 
promotion policies in fax or of those doing the 
rexenue-producing research; and 3) distortion 
in the direction of research and in the training 
of graduate students. 
F. Congress could mandate support for specific 
research tasks, such as pollution control using 
microbes. 
Inxestment in creating microbes to degrade 
pollutants is sloxv because the potential market 
is thought to be small and because of the severe 
liability problems that might arise from inten- 
tional release of commercially supplied mi- 
crobes. 
But microbes may be useful in degrading in- 
tractable xxaste and pollutants. Genetic deter- 
minants for desired degradation activities may 
be present in naturally occurring organisms, or 
scientists may haxe to combine genes from dif- 
ferent sources into a single organism. Current 
research, hoxxexer, is limited to isolating orga- 
nisms from natural sources or from mutated 
cultures. More elaborate efforts, involving re- 
combinant DNA (rDNA) techniques or other 
forms of microbial genetic exchange, will re- 
quire additional effort. 
A decision by the Federal Government to sup- 
port research and to reduce liability concerns is 
probably needed before the potential of micro- 
bial control of pollution can be realized. Federal 
actix ity might depend on the results of an eval- 
uation of the technical feasibility of microbial 
pollution control, xvhich could be made by 
either an interagency task force or a special 
commission. If the evaluation is negative. Con- 
gress might elect to do nothing to encourage the 
technology. If the evaluation is positive. Con- 
gress might select from the following sub- 
options: 
1. Initiate no research support nor any Fed- 
eral relief from or limit on potential liabili- 
ty claims. This option would not foreclose 
private commercial efforts, but it would 
limit them because of restricted research 
funds and large liability questions. If suffi- 
ciently large markets were anticipated or 
found, the limitations would be overcome. 
2. Initiate research support programs. Re- 
search might be directed at problems 
posed by particular pollutants (contract re- 
