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STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
, STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 © (415) 321-1200

May 20, 1970

Department of Genetics

Mr. K. M. Reese

News Scripts

Chemical and Engineering News
1155 Sixteenth St., N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20036

Dear Mr. Reese:

On feeding penicillin to guinea pigs (News Scripts, 5/11/70).

Someone must be hatching a brilliant idea for a new use of penicillin as

a food additive, which is the sole area of application of the Delaney
amendment. (Drugs, pesticides and bathroom deodorizers are categorically
excluded. For example, griseofulvin is still available to treat athlete's
foot.)

The phrase "cause cancer" can cause problems semantic (as well as medical).
An easy solution: feed compound to 39 mice for 3 months. Look out the
window while the pathological slides are under the microscope. This will
prove beyond doubt that the compound is safe for 300 million people for

a lifetime's worth of comsumption.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics

Penicillin-guinea pig

 

by K. M. Reese

LT. J. P. KENNEDY, JR. LABORATORIES FOR MOLECUL

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

HEREDITY

 

comment scares Prof.

Prof. Thomas K. Sherwood of the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, fore-
sees “a frightening sequence of events
coming up” as a result of a statement
that appeared here to the effect that
penicillin is fatal to guinea pigs

. (C&EN, March 23, page 106).

Some eager medical research man
with a subconscious yen for publicity
will have read the item, says chemical
engineer Sherwood. He will feed pen-

 

icillin to a great many guinea pigs,
will dissect each one when it expires,
and in course of time will find one
with a malignant tumor. The fact will
be reported to the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare. Un-
der the Delaney amendment, HEW
will be forced to ban the sale of peni-
cillin. Hundreds of thousands will die
or be debilitated because of infections.
C'mon, Sherwood. Nothing like
that can happen. in a modem, largely
franchised, technological society!