Human Genome Bill Sponsor Pulls Back, Shifts Tactics

WASHINGTON—One of the most frequent complaints about Congress is how long it takes to get something done. Last month Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) found out that trying to move too fast may be an even bigger problem. On July 10 Domenici introduced a bill (S. 1480) to create a federal advisory board and governmentuniversity-industry consortium to map and sequence the human genome. The bill, which would have set up cooperative research efforts on semiconductors and superconducting materials as well, gave a starring role to the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Dispensing with committee hearings, the former chairman of the Senate Budget Committee was poised July 21 to offer his bill as an amendment to the Omnibus Trade Act being voted on by the Senate. It was no surprise that Domenici, who represents a state that is home to Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, would favor DOE. And he probably figured that nobody would object to a bill that enlists science in keeping the United States ahead of its economic competitors. But Domenici hadn’t reckoned with the other actors—in Congress, in other federal agencies and in the research community—in what may someday be a multibillion-dollar research project. By the end of the day he had withdrawn his amendment and instead begun the slow but much surer process of building a consensus on the issue. His change in tactics is a lesson in the politics of science in the nation’s capital. DOE, which was not involved in drafting the legislation, asked Domenici to pull his bill off the floor. Officials questioned the need for legislation in an area where much is already being done. “Will it do something constructive to make this project go forward?” said Charles DeLisi, director of DOE’s health and environmental research office. “If so, then I’m for it. But I don’t know if there’s a rush to do these things.” A member of Domenici’s staff said DOE was most concerned about defining intellectual property rights to any discoveries, and the proper relationship between the federal labs and private companies that would want to make use of the scientific findings. “The bill made the labs appear a bit too autonomous,” DeLisi ac knowledged. “But I expect those problems can be worked out.” Another problem with the bill was that it jumped the gun on two pending studies that will examine how a human gene mapping project should be carried out. The Office of Technology Assessment is midway through a 15-month study that was requested by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences is finishing up its own nine-month study of the issue. “Do we need another Manhattan Project? Which agency should take the lead? What are the key issues?” said an Energy and Commerce staff member in explaining the committee’s charge to OTA. “Why would we ask for a major study and then ignore it [by agreeing to Domenici’s bill]?” Tipping the Balance A staff member for Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.), chairman of the Budget Committee with a keen interest in health research, said that Chiles and other senators felt Domenici’s bill would upset the proper balance among the relevant federal agencies. “It looked to us that DOE would have a role far beyond what the research community and the affected industries felt was appropriate,” said the staff member. “That’s not to say that DOE doesn’t have an important role to play, but it seemed premature, in the course of a week or so, to have it [S. 1480] appear as part of the trade bill.” The competition among federal agencies for a share of the action on the human genome project is fierce. Domenici’s bill originally would have created a policy board that included the directors of NIH, NSF and the Office of Science and Technology Policy but was chaired by the energy secretary. At the urg- ing of Chiles and others he changed it to a rotating chairmanship. But control is not the only bone of contention. NIH Director James Wyngaarden told a House committee this spring that NIH is already spending $300 million on projects related to human gene mapping, dwarfing the $12 million that DOE has requested in its 1988 budget. But scientists in both agencies are wary of embarking on a large-scale effort by cannibalizing funds from existing programs. Federal officials are also very conscious of who holds the purse strings on their budgets. “We expect the OTA report to be very relevant and helpful,” said one DOE official, who in the next breath dismissed the NAS study on the grounds that “nobody asked them for their opinion.” Despite their victory, however, opponents of Domenici’s bill see it having a positive effect on the issue. “He was probably put up to it by the people at Los Alamos,” said one House staffer. “But it’s not such a had thing to be responsive to your scientific constituency. The more that people know about the project, the better.” Mervis is on the staff of THE SCIENTIST.

Human Genome Bill Sponsor Pulls Back, Shifts Tactics

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