Sullivan Names Nine Residents To Sit On DNA Review Panel

City Manager James L. Sullivan yesterday named nine Cambridge residents to a special review board which is commissioned to measure the dangers involved in potentially hazardous DNA genetic research.

The committee will have two months to review the controversy and make a recommendation whether such research should be permitted in Cambridge.

Speaking at a special press conference, Sullivan said he chose nine laymen--"Cambridge citizens who have participated in Cambridge life"--to look into the pros and cons of the research and recommend to the City Council whether the research may be harmful to the city's residents.

[The names of the committee members appear at the end of this article.]

One month ago, after two hearings, the council placed a three-month ban on recombinant DNA research at Harvard and MIT, and requested that the city manager establish a Cambridge Experimentation Review Board to make recommendations on the matter.

At the hearings, Harvard scientists in favor of the research spoke of the ultimate benefits of experimenting with new combinations of DNA, including the development of a cure for cancer.

Opponents of the research warned at that time of the risks that new uncontrollable organisms may be produced that can escape to infect nearby residents.

Sullivan told a handful of reporters that he had considered naming proponents and opponents of the research and some neutral citizens to the review committee. But he said such a committee would resemble a "debating society" with antagonists attempting to sway neutral members.

Others, including some at the hearing, had recommended that because the experiments involved complex scientific questions, the committee should consist of knowledgeable scientists, biologists and geneticists.

But Sullivan equated that type of committee to "re-inventing the wheel," noting that the scientific community is divided on the matter and "it would be extremely difficult to find knowledgeable scientists who did not have preconceived views on the subject."

He said the committee can approach the subject "in an unbiased maner and insure that the public safety is at all times the foremost consideration."

The committee will review the federal guidelines for the research as well as the methods for monitoring compliance and accidents in recombinant DNA research facilities.

Harvard and MIT

As part of the decision to look into Harvard and MIT's facilities the city manager has requested that the universities allow the commissioner of Health and Hospitals to sit in on future Harvard and MIT biohazards committees.

Daniel Branton, professor of Biology and head of Harvard's biohazards committee, said yesterday he thought the formation of a citizen's committee is a proper way to reach a decision about the research. He added that he welcomed the health commissioner to attend any of the biohazard committee meetings.

After Sullivan announced the formation of the committee, Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci, an advocate of a longer moratorium on the research, gave a discourse on the dangers of recombinant DNA.

He compared the potential hazards that could come out of the research to the mysterious disease that felled 27 Legionnaires after a recent conference in Philadelphia. "We'll get up and we'll read about it in the papers one morning," he said.

Vellucci said he wants "a 100 per cent guarantee" that no dangers can happen before he'll vote in favor of the research.

1. Dr. Francis Comunale--Commissioner of Health and Hospitals, chairman.

2. Mary Nicoloro--15 Harding St., member Wellington-Harrington Citizens Committee, Board of Directors of Cambridge Family and Children's Services.

3. Sr. Mary Lucille Banach-799 Concord Ave., Secretary to the Board of Directors, Sancta Maria Hospital.

4. Sheldon Krimsky--59 Sacramento St., Associate Director, Program in Urban, Social, and Environmental Policy, Tufts University.

5. Daniel J. Hayes--60 Rindge Ave., vice chairman, businessman, former Cambridge mayor and city councillor.

6. William J. Le Messurier--94 Brattle St., partner in Le Messurier Associates-Structural Engineers.

7. Cornelia Wheeler--123 Coolidge Hill, former chairwoman of the Health and Hospitals Committee, former city councillor.

8. Dr. John L. Brusch--831 Massachusetts Ave., medical doctor, Board Certified in Infectious Diseases.

9. Constance Hughes--24 Gorham St., public health nurse and social worker