[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUBLICATION OF A PAPER THAT PROVED GENES 
                 ARE COMPRISED OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President I rise today to honor Drs. Oswald 
Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty of the Rockefeller University 
who 50 years ago yesterday published a paper in the Journal of 
Experimental Medicine providing that genes are comprised of 
deoxyribonucleic acid, better known as DNA.
  Today we take it for granted that DNA is the blueprint for life. But 
until 1944 it was widely believed that nucleic acids were too 
uninteresting to carry genetic information. Previous work, while 
sketchy, had shown there were only four components of DNA, the nucleic 
acids adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. How could these simple 
building blocks contain the code for life? Proteins comprised of some 
20 amino acids were thought to be much more interesting and much more 
likely candidates.
  Avery, McCarty and MacLeod laid the matter to rest once and for all 
in an elegant experiment. They prepared a heat-killed solution of 
pneumococcus bacteria capable of causing pneumonia in mice by 
converting or transforming noninfective host bacteria into pathogens 
and they then treated this solution with enzymes that broke down either 
proteins, ribonucleic acid [RNA] or DNA. They knew that since the 
bacteria were heat-killed, they could not cause pneumonia themselves, 
but that some component of the heat-killed bacteria could and did. This 
component was obviously the heritable material and if it were destroyed 
the solution would not be infectious. As it turns out they found that 
treatment with protein-destroying enzymes or ribonucleic acid-
destroying enzymes did not prevent transforming and infection. 
Treatment with DNA-destroying enzymes did proving conclusively that DNA 
is the stuff of heredity.
  Last night, at a party celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Avery, 
McCarty and MacLeod paper, David Rockefeller stated:

       * * * even if nothing else had been done in this great 
     university, this great discovery has, in my judgment, more 
     than justified, all by itself, the great hope and aspiration 
     of my grandfather and father when they established this 
     institution, in 1901.

Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod revolutionized medicine by their discovery. 
Without their work Watson and Crick would not have worked out the 
structure of DNA in 1952. Without their work we would not have those 
techniques now in use daily in research and medicine to diagnose 
infectious diseases, identify those who carry heritable genetic 
diseases, and assist infertile couples bear children.
  The medical research work of Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod conducted at 
Rockefeller University during World War II changed the course of the 
world, reduced suffering and contributed immeasurably to the quality of 
life as we know it.
  This type of pioneering research continues every day at Rockefeller 
University, at its fellow research centers and at teaching hospitals in 
New York City and New York State as well as elsewhere in our great 
country. The modern-day counterparts of Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod are 
concerned that the President's health care reform proposal will 
adversely affect their ability to conduct cutting-edge research. We 
must ensure that any health care plan we enact strongly supports 
biomedical research and a lifetime of continuing education for the 
medics. There is no better preventative medicine.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the New York Times 
article chronicling yesterday's celebration honoring the publication of 
Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod's paper be printed in the Record in full 
immediately following my remarks.
  The article follows:

                [From The New York Times, Feb. 2, 1994]

                           Happy Birthday DNA

                           (By Nadine Brozan)

       Happy birthday, DNA: yesterday was the 50th anniversary of 
     the publication of the paper that proved genes are comprised 
     for material called deoxyribonucleic acid.
       It was celebrated in low-key fashion yesterday afternoon at 
     the site of the discovery, the sixth floor of the Rockefeller 
     University Hospital, on York Avenue.
       More than 200 guests raised glasses of champagne as Torsten 
     Wiesel, president of the university and a Nobel laureate, 
     toasted Maclyn McCarty, one of the three authors of the 
     paper. Dr. McCarty, 82, collaborated with Dr. Oswald Avery 
     and Dr. Colin MacLeod, both of whom are dead.
       Speaking of Dr. McCarty, who is now a professor emeritus at 
     the university, David Rockefeller, chairman of the university 
     board's executive committee, said, ``Mac has always been such 
     a modest person that even when this unfolded and came to be 
     known, he acted just like the rest of us, as if he hadn't 
     discovered one of the things that has changed the course of 
     the world and world history.''
       ``Even if nothing else had been done at this great 
     university,'' Mr. Rockefeller continued, ``this great 
     discovery has, in my judgment, more than justified all by 
     itself the great hope and aspiration of my grandfather and 
     father when they established this institution, in 1901. It 
     has, in fact, given to the world what they hoped for: the 
     beginning of the understanding of the inner mysteries of life 
     and disease.''
       Dr. McCarty recalled that there was no great jubilation 
     expressed on the momentous day half a century ago. ``Fifty 
     years ago today, when this paper first appeared in the 
     library, I think neither Avery nor I was in a celebratory 
     mood. It was a mood of relief. We had waited a long time for 
     this to appear.''

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