Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scientific freedom and responsibility

Report of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

  • Published:
Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References and Notes

  1. Perspective on Chlorinated Dibenzodioxins and Dibenzofurans (Environmental Health Perspectives, Experimental Issue No. 5, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Publication No. NIH 74–128, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, N.C., September 1973). Several articles deal with the toxicity of the dioxins. See particularly table 4 in the article by R. Baughman and M. S. Meselson, pp. 27–35, which summarizes the results of earlier workers.

  2. V. Earle, Ed., On Academic Freedom (American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  3. P. Berget al., Science 185, 303 (1974); N. Wade,ibid., p. 332.

    Google Scholar 

  4. (a) In February 1975, an international conference of experts at the Asilomar Conference Center in California devoted several days of intensive discussions to this problem and concluded with a recommendation to lift the voluntary moratorium on most of these proposed genetic experiments. However, such experiments were to be done only subject to rigorous precautions for containment of the possibly hazardous organisms, the stringency of the precautions increasing with the estimated risk in different categories of experiments. Indeed, for many of the possible experiments, the required conditions cannot be met without the development of new organisms and new techniques, so that the moratorium is in effect being continued for such experiments. See N. Wade, Science 187, 931 (1975).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. J. Katz, Ed., Experimentation with Human Beings (Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  6. “Clinical Studies in the Human: The Ethical and Scientific Problems,” symposium by A. C. Barnes, R. Q. Marston, B. Barber, and J. Katz [Fertil. Steril. 23, 593 (1972)].

  7. B. J. Culliton, Science 185, 426 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  8. E. F. Behrman, New York Times (9 June 1974), opposite editorial page.

  9. AAAS Committee on Science in the Promotion of Human Welfare, “The integrity of science,” Am. Sci. 53, 174 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  10. For a useful short history of the use of DDT, see G. McIntire,Environmental (St. Louis) 14 (No. 6), 14 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  11. These figures are from World Health Organization Relevé Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire (8 August 1969).

  12. R. Garcia, Environment (St. Louis) 14 (No. 5), 2 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  13. For numerous examples of this and many other problems in international development schemes, see The Careless Technology: Ecology and International Development, M. T. Farvar and J. P. Milton, Eds. (Natural History Press, Garden City, N.Y., 1972).

  14. C. Sterling, Atlantic Monthly (May 1974), p. 98; N. Wade, Science 185, 234 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Report of the Advisory Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiations, The Effects on Populations of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation (Division of Medical Sciences, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1972).

  16. Our description is taken from a more detailed report by S. H. Unger [“The BART Case: Ethics and the Employed Engineer,” Inst. Electr. Electron Eng. Comm. Soc. Implications Technol. Newsl. No. 4 (Sept. 1973), p. 6 (V. Klig, Ed., 497 Park Avenue, Leonia, N.J. 07605)].

  17. Our discussion is based on Fed. Am. Sci. Prof. Bull. 2 (No. 8), 1 (1974).

  18. P. Brodeur, Expendable Americans (Viking Press, New York, 1974). Concerning the hazards of asbestos, and steps taken to control them, see also: A. K. Ahmed, D. R. MacLeod, J. Carmody [Environment (St. Louis) 14 (No. 10), 16 (1972)].

    Google Scholar 

  19. R. Scott, Muscle and Blood (Dutton, New York, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Statement on “Employment Guidelines,” Inst. Elect. Electron. Eng. Spectrum 1973, 57 (April 1973). The statement has been adopted by at least 20 engineering and scientific societies.

  21. M. S. Meselson, A. H. Westing, J. D. Constable: Herbicide Assessment Commission of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Background Material Relevant to Presentations at the 1970 Annual Meeting of the AAAS [reprinted in the Congressional Record 118 (No. 32), S3226–S3233 (3 March 1972)].

  22. Committee on the Effects of Herbicides in Vietnam, The Effects of Herbicides in South Vietnam (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1974).

  23. Concerning this controversy, see, for instance, D. Shapley [Science 183, 1177 (1974)] and C. Norman [Nature (Lond.) 248, 186 (1974)].

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Laboratories Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    John T. Edsall

Authors
  1. John T. Edsall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Edsall, J.T. Scientific freedom and responsibility. Mol Cell Biochem 11, 113–124 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01792794

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01792794

Keywords

Search

Navigation