Harvard Professors Suggest New Genetic Research Policy

A group of scientists which includes several Harvard professors has created an organization aimed at publicly scrutinizing the controversial field of genetic research.

The week-old Committee for Responsible Genetics (CRG), organizers said yesterday, hopes to insure that genetic engineering decisions take into account public interest and community involvement.

"What we see ourselves as is an informational clearinghouse," said Professor of Biology Ruth A. Hubbard '45, a member of CRG's board of directors. "There needs to be a source of public information to which people can turn," she added.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of--and vocal opposition to--research in genetics, including "gene-splicing," in which new forms of life may be created by altering genetic material.

Private investors and corporations have pumped more than $1.1 billion into biotechnology to date, organizers of the group stated.

Last year, there were 208 specialty firms and 84 major corporations in the U.S. involved in the commercial and medical applications of genetics, the organization's prospectus added.

Hubbard said yesterday that new innovations in biotechnology often "are handed to people, who are told. 'Aren't we lucky to have this?' The people have absolutely no input" into the research that produced them, she added.

Richard C. Lewontin '50, Agassiz Professor of Zoology, who also teaches at the School of Public Health, said he sees his role as a member of the group's board of directors as "giving talks, writing [and] talking to political people.

"It's a matter of agitation and informing the public," Lewontin added. "As a teacher, I'm in a position to do that."

Both Lewontin and Hubbard said that Harvard does considerable research in many areas of genetics--research which group members believe the community should be kept abreast of.

So far, Hubbard said, the University's connection to the group is limited to faculty who serve on the board of directors or as consultants to the group. Nobel laureate and Higgins Professor of Biology Emeritus George Wald also serves as a director.

Each member of the board has a particular area of concern within the field. Lewontin said he was concerned about discrimination resulting from genetic screening in the workplace, in which employees might be denied jobs because of their sensitivity to certain toxins in their work environment.

Hubbard's area of interest is the ethics of genetic experimentation and the possible hazards to the public of recombinant DNA research--gene-splicing.

In 1976, public concern that possible cancerous organisms created in the gene-splicing process might escape prompted the biology labs to install extensive safety features.

In addition to addressing some of the issues of genetic engineering, the committee also wants to uncover and prevent damage to human reproduction caused by exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation