How to Regulate Biotechnology?

In the editorial "Regulating Biotechnology," March 10, the author endorses the Bush administration's proposal to relax regulation of biotechnology and repeats the specious logic which has been used to justify this truly reckless act.

The issue is the impact of genetically engineered microorganisms upon the environment. Unlike naturally occurring organisms, which have undergone a step-by-step process of mutual adaptation and adjustment to their environment, genetically engineered microorganisms are a bolt from the blue. We simply cannot be sure in advance which of them may destabilize the complex web of ecological relations. David Keppel, Essex, Conn.

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