warned that DNA technology was developing so rapidly that it might get ahead of itself before potentially grave dangers from newly created microorganisms became apparent. Thus, the group called for a voluntary moratorium on recombinant DNA research until a consensus could be reached among investigators. Yet late last year, Berg told the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Science, Technology & Space that "I and others have changed our assessment of the risks. I now believe that the possibility that experimental organisms will be hazardous or released is exceedingly small.,, Now the Senators believe that because of HEW's National Institutes of Health's "properly cautious" scrutiny of DNA research, "a high level of safety" has been achieved working with many bacterial genes. NIH in 1976 established safety guidelines that it enforces on its grantees working with recombinant DNA molecules. The guidelines call for hierarchical levels of physical containment tied to the potential hazard of the experiment. But since the NIH rules apply only to institutions that get federal research dollars, private industry is under no constraints to comply. Nevertheless, many private companies such as pharmaceutical firms say they have voluntarily met the NIH guidelines and in some cases claim they have taken precautions beyond those laid out by NIH. In their letter the Senators urged Califano to extend the NIH research guidelines to private industry by invoking sections of the Public Health Service Act that deal with communicable diseases. However, since recombinant DNA research has yet to produce a communicable disease—an event that many experts believe to be very unlikely—it is uncertain that HEW would go this route. Meanwhile, in the House legislation to regulate recombinant DNA research has had smoother going than in the Senate. Introduced by Rep. Paul G. Rogers (D.Fla.) the House bill, H.R. 11192, has so far been reported out favorably by both the Interstate & Foreign Commerce and Science & Technology committees and is awaiting floor action in the full House. But with the Senate's ardor for regulation apparently cooling, it is uncertain that the measure will be brought up at all. D
Donald Banner sworn in as new patent chief Donald W. Banner, electrical engineer, patent attorney, and philosopher of innovation, was sworn in quietly last Monday as 43rd commissioner of patents. He follows a long line of patent chiefs, beginning with the father of the U.S. patent system, Thomas Jefferson, to head what now is called the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Banner, 54, succeeds Marshall Dann, formerly chief of patents for Du Pont, who
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last August resigned as commissioner to enter private practice in Philadelphia. The new commissioner has been general patent counsel for Borg-Warner Corp. of Chicago since 1964 and also is president of the American Patent Law Association, vice president of the International Patent & Trademark Association, and adjunct professor of law at John Marshall Law School at the University of Chicago. In that academic role he also is director of the graduate program in intellectual property law. He is generally regarded as one of the best prepared persons to take appointment to the patent office, owing to the tripartite combination of skills in legal academics, industrial management, and government affairs. One former commissioner, William Schuyler, now a Washington, D.C., patent attorney, says that Banner is especially equipped to deal with the interagency difficulties that often come in the administration of patent law. Banner also is well known on the lecture and publication circuit as one of the more thoughtful and broad-gaged commentators on the innovation system. Banner appears to face no truly traumatic challenges as he takes office. Budget is a continuous strain on patent office operation. Pressure by developing countries for concessions in patent policy will be a vexation in the months ahead. His main contribution could be in the field of innovation policy, now reaching desperation stages in Washington, owing to the serious lag in the U.S. trade balance. The current appointment is actually Banner's second acceptance of the position. In 1973 he accepted nomination by President Richard Nixon only to change his mind a month later. That period was an especially turbulent one for the office. Then, the office was aflame with controversy over a successor to Schuyler. Banner, though appointed, took a gentlemanly withdrawal, leaving the way clear to Robert Gottschalk as Schuyler's successor. D
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