Calm in the STORm

Michael Hall has the dubious honor of having worked in the only lab that was ever shut down for recombinant DNA guideline violations. “It was very exciting,” he recalls with a smile. The local TV stations sent crews and the National Institutes of Health conducted a thorough investigation. “I had to write statements about what happened and tell the investigating committee what I witnessed. It was like a spy novel,” says Hall. In reality, it was all a misunderstanding. Harvard Professor Charlie Thomas—with whom Hall was doing a rotation as a grad student in the late 1970s—“didn’t take kindly to people telling him how to run his lab.” So when a young woman from the university’s recombinant DNA committee popped by for a visit, Hall says, “Charlie told her to go take a hike.” The situation snowballed from there. “Nothing really bad had happened,” says Hall of the alleged infraction. ...