Boston Residents Blast DNA Research

Mission Hill residents opposing DNA research sharply criticized Harvard researchers yesterday, calling them "puppets of the profit motive" in hearings last night before Boston City Council on a bill proposing close scrutiny of both academic and commercial DNA experimentation in Boston.

Next Monday Cambridge will consider a variation of the bill, which calls for strict adherence by all commercial researchers of controversial gene-splicing techniques to safety guidelines established by the National Institute of Health.

Fashion Genes

Many Mission Hill residents expressed anger about the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital's approval Monday of an 18-month lease for a gene-splicing research facility in that town which will be operated by Genetics Institute (GI), a commercial gene-research organization.

The bill also dictates the establishment of a Boston Biohazards Committee to oversee the regulations and grant permits to all commercial and academic institutions seeking to do gene research.

Hands Off

Researchers from Harvard, Tufts and Boston University yesterday criticized the bill for duplicating the same federal regulations the schools must already adhere to.

"In any enterprise that feels the conflict between profit and safety, profit always wins," Lesley F. Payne of the Mission Hills Planning Commission said, adding that his neighborhood has united in opposition to genetic engineering companies that ignore possible health hazards from runaway microorganisms.

Big Bucks

Cambridge City Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci, a strong supporter of the bill, said yesterday, "All the scientists are very serious now, because this is a money deal. This is a big, big money deal."

"For the first time, we are peeking into the laboratories of researchers," Vellucci said, "and they resent it. They resent that we dared to come into their laboratories and spy on them."