Genetic Moratorium

Worried that a wild-eyed professor might create a new killer germ, the town fathers of a New England community anxiously convene to deal with the possible threat.

Sound like the script of a third-rate science-fiction thriller? It is reality in Cambridge, Mass., where the city council moved last week to prevent Harvard University and M.I.T. from engaging in genetic research that could create new --and possibly dangerous--life forms.

By a 5-to-4 vote the council demanded a three-month moratorium on the disputed research, which is already under way at M.I.T. The two schools are not legally bound to comply, and in any event, Harvard did not plan to open the new lab where the work will take place until next spring. But the council could put teeth into its order by declaring such genetic research a public health hazard and banning it within city limits.

What worries many of the townspeople is Harvard's intention to learn more about DNA, the master molecule of heredity, by inserting segments of DNA from other organisms into E. coli, a common intestinal bacterium often used in genetic research. Some scientists fear that fusion of these DNA segments with E. coli's DNA might create new, lethal microbes against which humans have no immunity. To guard against this and other possible threats, the National Institutes of Health recently issued tough rules to govern such research.

Harvard's new lab will include, among other safety features, reduced interior air pressure (to keep germs from escaping) and sterilization of wastes. That was not enough to reassure the Cambridge council, led by Mayor Alfred Vellucci. After conflicting testimony from a host of scientists, including Nobel Laureates David Baltimore (for the research) and George Wald (against it), the council last week voted for the moratorium, during which a panel of scientists and lay members will consider the issue further. Gloated Vellucci: "We caught Harvard just in time."

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